Fall from Grace

This novel is based on the wartime work of Britain's 'secret services'; MI6, SOE, and numerous other Departments, their often fractious and adversarial relationships, and their equally fractious relationship with those groups collectively known in France as the Resistance; and specifically their involvement; knowingly or otherwise in the greatest deception plan ever mounted in modern warfare; 'Fortitude'.'Fortitude' was mounted with one object; to keep the details of the obvious Allied intention to invade Europe as secret as possible so that the enemy would never know where, when, or how the invasion would take place, and significantly, on what scale and on how many fronts they would be required to defend themselves. The simple aim was to save the lives of as many allied troops as possible by keeping the enemy guessing until the last moment......and after.'Fortitude' was thought up, planned and executed almost exclusively by the British, until, with the build up of the US Forces in Britain, a large element of US participation also became involved on the ground. But whilst they might have been doing what they were asked, they did not understand why.As was the case with Ultra, secrecy was absolute, so that only at the very highest Command level was the truth of what was actually being done known. And even then, especially with the US Command, few really understood it's importance to the plans for D-Day. Their scepticism was a problem and many complained that the British were crazy. This resulted with Eisenhower, who; knowing everything, was supportive of the plan, solved by telling his generals to just do as they were told.Whilst this is a novel, anyone familiar with subject will recognise the real people who are part of the story, and often others whose names have been barely changed,for instance, allied agents and also their German adversaries. The main characters of the story are based on genuine agents. The identity of the main female character has been heavily disguised and seems to be a composite character based on two different women. Indeed the actions and fate of these 'main' characters subsequently became the most contentious in SOE's history.All of this is woven into an excellent account of the build up of 'Fortitude', and it's methods of deception.The author is primarily a historian whose previous historical works have shown a grasp of detail that is echoed in this novel.Written in 1985 , at a time when little had been published on the subject, the results show his research on the subject at that time to have been formidable. Unfortunately, considering that most of the official documents on the subject had already been incinerated on government instructions, he has not included a bibliography of sources. However, over the intervening years there do now exist a number of histories which back up his account of events.Why have I only given it 4 stars?Whilst being thoroughly based on fact, there are a number of very obvious deviations from those facts, but that I suppose is why it is a novel.The main, and most obvious deviation from fact is the fate of one of the main characters which the author has changed in the most radical way from what actually occurred. This in my view was wrong, consideriong that those who know the story of SOE will be well aware of the true facts,That said, the story as told is excellent. After a slow introductionary start, during which the myriad details of the organisations and characters are presented, their role described and the scene set, the story picks up pace, and the plot thickens. Before long the story unfolds and the book becomes un-put-downable. Ultimately, an excellent book.