Trapeze, by Simon Mawer

Why would a young woman, who verges on the shy side, decide to be a spy during WWII? What would go through her mind and what events would lead her to parachute in blackest night into Nazi-occupied France? Understand her thinking and follow her path in the beautifully written "Trapeze."

The latest novel by Simon Mawer, the critically acclaimed author of "The Glass Room," "Trapeze" is an exciting war-torn adventure with characters who will haunt you long after you finish reading their story. Main character Marian Sutro, a Brit, is also a native French speaker, which makes her an attractive recruit for the “Inter-Service Research Bureau.” Soon she is undergoing commando training and enrolled in a “school for spies.” But all espionage and no romance would make Marian a dull girl. And dull she is not. As her duties expand, so do the number of aliases she takes on (“Live the person you are pretending to be”), as well as the number of lovers.

As this historical novel progresses, readers see a basically ordinary girl take on an extraordinary life. After her first parachute jump, she thinks, "How will anything, ever again, be as exciting as this?" But for the reader, the excitement continues throughout Marian's training, and her introduction to what is literally the physics of war culminates in a nail-biting finale.

Check our catalog