15. Claude and Madeleine - Edward Marriott

At first I was little confused in reading this book, it seemed to be a fiction although told in the same way as some dramatic docos. The last 20 pages being references, I’m led to believe it’s a true story!

It follows the story of Claude and Madeleine, who met in Vietnam, are French and become secret agents of sorts after the Nazis conquer France. It follows their efforts to do their bit for the resistance and to prove to the British that they’re capable of it. However the book gives so little information about their characters and relationships and focuses on the activities and tasks, presumably because the references only give location and factual information rather than character details. So it is left unfabricated in that sense and we must assume why they act as they do.

The ending is quite an anti-climax, mostly because with 20 or so pages left, you’re expecting much more of a story. For it to suddenly end and begin to cite references is a shock, but that’s how it goes and there was simply no more story to tell. Despite reasons for the book being short and uninformative, some parts were fascinating and gives a small insight into the lives of secret ‘agents’ during WW2.