by Clare Mulley (Author)
In June 1952, a woman was murdered by an obsessive colleague in a hotel in South Kensington. Her name was Christine Granville. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising, but that she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. The daughter of a feckless Polish aristocratic and his wealthy Jewish wife, she would become one of Britain's most daring and highly decorated secret agents. Having fled Poland on the outbreak of war, she was recruited by the intelligence services long before the establishment of the SOE, and took on mission after mission. She skied over the hazardous High Tatras into Poland, served in Egypt and North Africa and was later parachuted into Occupied France, where an agent's life expectancy was only six weeks. Her courage, quick wit and determination won her release from arrest more than once, and saved the lives of several fellow officers, including one of her many lovers, just hours before their execution by the Gestapo. More importantly, perhaps, the intelligence she gathered was a significant contribution to the Allied war effort and her success was reflected in the fact that she was awarded the George Medal, the OBE and the Croix de Guerre.
Format: Unabridged
Pages: 448
Edition: 1
Publisher: Pan
Published: 11 Apr 2013
ISBN 10: 1447201183
ISBN 13: 9781447201182
Book Overview: The remarkable story of Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, George Medal, OBE and Croix de Guerre.
Clare Mulley joined Save the Children as a corporate fundraiser in the 1990s. She is the mother of three daughters and currently lives in Essex, UK. Her first book, The Woman Who Saved the Children, a biography of Eglantyne Jebb was both critically acclaimed and won the Daily Mail Biographers' Club Prize.