Women in intelligence Stories with Helen Fry and Kate Vigurs

On Wednesday 27 September at Finchley Church End Library from 7-8pm, including a Q&A session and a prize for the best question. Barnet Libraries presents: Women in intelligence stories with Helen Fry and Kate Vigurs in conversation with Michael Newman CEO of The AJR discussing their stunning new books, Women in Intelligence and Mission France: The true story of the women of SOE.

There will be a bookseller in attendance. You can pay for purchased books either by cash or card.

Helen & Kate will sign purchased copies of their books.

This event is part of the Barnet Libraries Creative Communities program.

In twentieth century, women took on an extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time. Across both world wars, far from being a small part of covert operations, they ran spy networks and escape lines, parachuted behind enemy lines and interrogated prisoners. And, back in Bletchley and Whitehall, women’s vital administrative work in MI offices kept the British war engine running.

Helen looks at the rich and varied intelligence and espionage work women undertook as civilians and in uniform. From spies in the Belgian network ‘La Dame Blanche’, knitting coded messages into jumpers, to those who interpreted aerial images and even ran entire sections. She will talk about some of the inspirational contributions of these remarkable women from her extensive research.

Historian Dr Helen Fry has written numerous books on the Second World War with particular reference to the 10,000 Germans who fought for Britain, and also British intelligence, espionage and WWII. Her latest bestselling book is Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World War. She has written over 25 books including The Walls have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of WWII; Spymaster: The Man who Saved MI6; The London Cage about a secret interrogation centre in WWII; and MI9: A history of the British Secret Service for escape and evasion in World War Two. She has appeared in numerous TV documentaries and is an ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence.

Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. The organization’s F section sent more than four hundred agents into France, thirty-nine of whom were women. But while some are widely known Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Noor Inayat Khan and others have had their stories largely overlooked.

Kate Vigurs interweaves for the first time the stories of all thirty-nine female agents. Tracing their journeys from early recruitment to work undertaken in the field, to evasion from, or capture by, the Gestapo, Vigurs shows just how greatly missions varied.

Some agents were more adept at parachuting. Some agents’ missions lasted for years, others’ less than a few hours. Some survived, others were murdered. By placing the women in the context of their work with the SOE and the wider war, this history reveals the true extent of the differences in their abilities and attitudes while underlining how they nonetheless shared a common mission and, ultimately, deserve recognition.

Dr Kate Vigurs is a professional freelance historian. Her debut book ‘Mission France’ has received critical acclaim, described as ‘a tale of triumph and tragedy, of romance but also ruin, a fitting epitaph to their courage and humanity and as an important addition to the story of the female agents of SOE’s F Section.

The book was shortlisted for the Polly Corrigan Prize and the SAHR First book prize in 2022.

Michael Newman is Chief Executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), which represents and supports Holocaust refugees and survivors in Great Britain.

Outside of work, Michael is President of the Anglo-Jewish Association (AJA), which supports Jewish students to attend higher and further education.

He is a regular speaker, panellist and moderator at commemorative events.

He was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2021.

Host or Publisher Barnet Libraries