Conspiracy of Lies

Book excerpt: From the author of "The Embroiderer", comes a powerful account of one woman's struggle to balance her duty to her country and her undying love for a man she knows will ultimately end in tragedy. 1940: With the Germans about to enter Paris, Claire Bouchard flees France for England. Two years later she is recruited by the Special Operations Executive and sent back into occupied France in the spring of 1943 to work alongside the Resistance. Working undercover as a teacher in Brittany, Claire, aka Secret Agent Manon - cover name, Marie-Elise, accidentally befriends the wife of the German Commandant of Rennes. Unbeknown to her, SOE had deliberately intended her to meet up with this man but what was to take place was inconceivable for everyone. Knowing that thousands of lives depended on her actions, Claire chose to live a double life as a Gestapo Commandant's mistress in order to retrieve vital information for the Allied Invasion of France. In fear of being labelled a collaborator, few knew of her role, a secret that she would keep until 2001 when she suffers a severe heart attack after receiving a death notice in a German newspaper sent to her from an unknown source in France. Convinced that this had something to do with the heart attack, her daughter, Sarah, tries to get to the bottom of her mother's secret. Part historical, part romance and part thriller, "Conspiracy of Lies" takes us through the picturesque villages and towns of rural Brittany to the glittering dinner parties in fine villas and hotels requisitioned by the Nazi elite.