Betrayal, treachery, and courage against the odds
BOOK INFORMATION
Book Title: The Shadow Network
Series: Secret Agent Series (but can be read as a stand-alone)
Author: Deborah Swift
Publication Date: 13th February 2024
Publisher: HQ Digital
Page Length: 376
Genre: Historical Fiction / WW2
BLURB
One woman must sacrifice everything to uncover the truth in this enthralling historical novel, inspired by the true World War Two campaign Radio Aspidistra…
England, 1942: Having fled Germany after her father was captured by the Nazis, Lilli Bergen is desperate to do something pro-active for the Allies. So when she’s approached by the Political Warfare Executive, Lilli jumps at the chance. She’s recruited as a singer for a radio station broadcasting propaganda to German soldiers – a shadow network.
But Lilli’s world is flipped upside down when her ex-boyfriend, Bren Murphy, appears at her workplace; the very man she thinks betrayed her father to the Nazis. Lilli always thought Bren was a Nazi sympathiser – so what is he doing in England supposedly working against the Germans?
Lilli knows Bren is up to something, and must put aside a blossoming new relationship in order to discover the truth. Can Lilli expose him, before it’s too late?
Set in the fascinating world of wartime radio, don’t miss The Shadow Network, a heart-stopping novel of betrayal, treachery, and courage against the odds.
EXCERPT
England, 1940
The knock came again.
‘Mads?’ Lilli called.
Maddie came out of her room with the newspaper under her arm, slopping to the door in her slippers. ‘You could see who it is,’ she grumbled. ‘Probably someone collecting for the Sally Army.’
Lilli let the square, no-nonsense figure of Maddie push past her to unlock the chain and the Yale lock, just as the insistent knock came again.
‘All right, all right, I’m coming.’ Maddie yanked the door open and three men forced their way into the hall. One in a wet trilby hat followed by two policemen.
‘Lilliana Bergen?’ asked the man in the trilby.
‘No, I’m Madeleine Kettering,’ Maddie said. ‘That’s Lilli. What do you want?’
The three men surrounded Lilli before she even had time to blink.
‘What is it? What have I done?’ She tried to back away, a chill rippling down her spine. This was how they came for people, back in Germany.
‘I’m sorry, miss,’ the man in the trilby said, ‘but all enemy aliens have to come with us. Orders of the government.’
Enemy aliens? No, it must be a mistake. ‘You’ve got the wrong person. I’m a refugee. I came here to escape the Nazis. I’ve been in London more than two years.’
‘We have our orders,’ one of the policemen said. ‘You can take a suitcase with you though, one suitcase.’
The words hit her like a fist. One suitcase. That was what they said to Papa. And she’d no word of him since.
But this was England, not Germany. ‘It’s a mistake, I tell you. I have all the correct paperwork. Ask anyone. I’ve a job here, friends here. I’m about to go to work. You can’t possibly believe I—’
‘We’ll give you five minutes to pack,’ the second, burlier policeman said.
‘Let me speak to someone,’ Maddie said. ‘She’s done nothing. She’s about to train as a warden with the WRVS. The letter came today. Wait there, I’ll get it.’
‘No!’ Lilli tried to protest but Maddie had gone to get the letter from the mantelpiece. The men looked a little more uncertain.
‘Here!’ Maddie said, thrusting it into their hands.
One of the men looked at the envelope. ‘Lily Berg? According to our records, you’re Lilliana Bergen. Who is this Lily Berg? And it says you’re Welsh.’ He turned to Maddie. ‘She’s not Welsh, is she?’
‘They got it wrong. It must be a mistake . . .’ Lilli tailed off. She was caught, and couldn’t answer.
‘I can vouch for her good character,’ Maddie said, ‘and so can her employer, Reg Benson; she works as a singer and as a domestic for Mrs—’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ said the man in the trilby. ‘All that will be looked into later.’
‘It’s an offence for a refugee to use a false name,’ the big policeman said. ‘She’s to come with us. Fetch your things, miss, or we’ll take you without them.’
Lilli looked at Maddie desperately, unable to believe what she was hearing.
‘Five minutes.’ The trilby man tapped his watch in a manner designed to intimidate.
She ran up the stairs again, her heart thudding. What to pack? Practical clothes. She was still wearing the silk dress, so she grabbed a cardigan and knitted jersey, plus a blouse and a skirt from the rail in the wardrobe, and another pair of flat shoes, the ones she used as a cleaner.
She was stopped in her tracks by the photo of her father, staring out at her from its silver frame.
Oh, Papa, she thought. Where will they take me?
She swept it up and pressed it to her heart, then thrust it into the inside pocket of her suitcase. From the dressing table she retrieved the gold Star of David on a chain that her mother had given her as a child. She never wore it, as it drew too much attention, but she couldn’t leave it behind.
‘Ready?’ A man’s voice from downstairs.
She grabbed her sheet music from the bedside table and at the last minute remembered her nightdress and squashed it in on top.
When she came down Maddie was complaining about how it was ridiculous, and she’d lose money from not having Lilli’s wages coming in.
‘Then get another lodger,’ the man in the trilby said. ‘One that isn’t a German.’
‘She’s a refugee,’ Maddie protested. ‘She came to get away from Hitler.’
‘Same difference.’ The burly policeman shrugged.
A police van idled at the kerb in a wreath of exhaust smoke. The officers yanked open the back doors and pushed Lilli to get in. Inside shivered another woman, an older lady, whose white face and carpet bag stuffed to overflowing, told Lilli she’d been caught equally unprepared.
‘Where are they taking us?’ Lilli asked.
The woman shook her head violently, her mouth sealed shut.
Lilli turned to see Maddie yelling, ‘I’ll report you! It’s disgusting! You can’t do this!’ and thumping on the side of the van. A noise that felt like small explosions. Then Maddie’s desperate voice; ‘Lilli! Write, hear me? You’d better write!’
MY REVIEW
Eight decades after the World War Two era, we continue to discover more and more about the colossal efforts of the Allied spy network and subversive efforts that collectively, ultimately, brought Hitler down.
In The Shadow Network, Author Deborah Swift has plunged us into a richly detailed and thrilling encounter with one of these operations: The clandestine broadcasts masquerading as Echt Deutsch (True German) that delivered false and disheartening information to the Reich troops, beginning in 1942.
I especially appreciated the author’s choice of a part-Jewish German refugee as her heroine. Lilli’s personal story kept me as a reader immersed in the horror of the Nazi regime and the absolute necessity of winning the war. The fear that held Lilli back from exposing what she knew was real, and it nearly cost her – and their broadcasting team – everything.
Five stars, highly recommend.
BUY LINKS
Universal Buy Link: mybook.to/RadioLies
Link to bookshop: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-shadonetwork-ww2-secret-agent-series-deborah-swift
AUTHOR BIO
Deborah Swift is the English author of eighteen historical novels, including Millennium Award winner Past Encounters, and The Lady’s Slipper, shortlisted for the Impress Prize.
Her most recent books are the Renaissance trilogy based around the life of the poisoner Giulia Tofana, The Poison Keeper and its sequels, one of which won the Coffee Pot Book Club Gold Medal. Recently she has completed a secret agent series set in WW2, the first in the series being The Silk Code.
Deborah used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV and enjoys the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something she loved doing as a scenographer. She likes to write about extraordinary characters set against the background of real historical events. Deborah lives in North Lancashire on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Author Links:
Twitter https://twitter.com/swiftstory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordeborahswift/
Website: www.deborahswift.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/deborahswift1/
Amazon http://author.to/DeborahSwift
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deborah-swift
Thank you so much for hosting the excerpt of The Shadow Network.
Thank you for hosting Deborah Swift today, and for your lovely review of The Shadow Network.
Take care,
Cathie xo
The Coffee Pot Book Club