When a friend told me several years back that I should really try the Maggie Hope books by Susan Elia MacNeal, that I would really like them, I should have listened to her. But, better late than never, and now I have six more novels to look forward to after very much enjoying the first in the series, Mr. Churchill's Secretary. I flew through the story and didn't want to put the book down. It has a little bit of everything I like--a smart, savvy and interesting heroine, a mystery, a bit of espionage, just enough historical detail to set it firmly in a time and place I like to read about, some good red herrings and a most satisfying conclusion that leaves the door open to more adventures for Maggie.
Had I not chosen to read Australian Lit for my summer bookcation, I think I would have time traveled back to London during the Blitz, which is when the novel is set. I like MacNeal's slant to the story, however. Maggie is British born but American raised by her aunt after the death of her parents. She was all set to continue her studies at MIT, not an easy thing for a woman of the era--even with her impressive Wellesley background, but legal matters required her to go to London to settle the business of an inheritance in the form of her grandmother's house. Her aunt wants her to sell quickly and return home, as a scholar herself she wants Maggie to take up her position at MIT.
But the war intervenes and disrupts her plans. It's 1940 and when Britain declares war, she feels a duty to stay and take on war work. Even if America can't be drawn in, she wants to do her part. When her best friend, who works at No. 10 Downing, asks her to take up a secretarial position for Mr. Churchill, she is at first reluctant. She has studied mathematics at an Ivy League school and is set to take up doctoral work at an even more prestigious school, and to be little more than a glorified secretary is disappointing. Even if it is at Number Ten. But David is persuasive. The previous secretary was murdered and they need someone immediately. Maggie accepts, even if what she really wanted to do, work as a private secretary is off limits to women (who are known to go off and get married, especially in wartime). War work is war work.
It becomes obvious very quickly that there is more at play with Maggie's easy appointment to the job. Maybe it is less her friendship and scholastic abilities that win her the position. Sometimes keeping those of questionable intention close to hand is the best way to keep an eye on them. So, what is Maggie's secret? That is part of the mystery, but just one little detail. However, one that is going to be a very important detail. To reveal more would spoil the fun.
Maggie lets out rooms in her London house to several other young women also doing war work of one kind or another. Part of what is so interesting about London during the war is that even with the bombs falling life goes on. Actually life is lived on a heightened plane since who knows what will be left standing after the air raid sirens go quiet. Into the mix is the fascist element and the Irish problem and the lack of American support. And then there are cocktails and parties and who knows, maybe even a dash of romance. This is a rich era for good storytelling. And Elia MacNeal is a good storyteller.
I've already got the second book lined up and ready to read, Princess Elizabeth's Spy. Can you tell by the title that the story is going to change tack slightly? I can already tell you Maggie is going to rank up there for me as a favorite female character--in Maggie's case, she is brave, independent and shows moxie, plus she is mathematically smart and intuitive--we need more women characters like her, I think.