April marks the fourth “birthday” of Spies & Sweethearts, book one in my Sisters in Service series. The idea for the story came together as a result of several incidents, the most fun of which was when I met a woman who’d served in America’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the CIA, during WWII.
An immense amount of research went into the book, and I quickly realized I did not have what it took to be a spy. Not only do I suffer from acrophobia and claustrophobia, but my sense of direction is almost nonexistent. I often lose my car in large parking lots, so I can’t imagine being parachuted into an area I’ve never been with a compass and tiny map and expected to find my way to a destination.
At a time when women were only hired in “traditional” roles (e.g., teacher, nurse, secretary), William “Wild Bill” Donovan, head of the OSS hired hundreds of women for his new organization. Many worked in the office and performed tasks such as map making, cryptography, and research, but quite a few were dropped as agents into occupied territories to create escape routes, organize resistance groups, initiate rumors, forge documents, perform acts of sabotage, collect intelligence information, and infiltrate enemy lines. According to former OSS operative Elizabeth “Betty” McIntosh, “The only crime we could commit was to get caught, to “blow our cover.””
Donovan’s superiors were stunned at his willingness to hire women to do such dangerous work, but his logic made sense: women were more inconspicuous as spies, especially in occupied areas where men of combat age would stand out.
Recruitment of the women was a challenge because they could not be told what they would be doing as the work was classified. But the type of women that were chosen all had one characteristic in common: they were up for adventure. Most had traveled extensively and spoke multiple languages. They were physically fit and highly intelligent. Training lasted several months, and this short video gives you a small taste (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OSS_Overview.ogv)
Would you have raised your hand to become a spy?
She wants to do her part. He’s just trying to stay out of the stockade. Will two agents deep behind enemy lines find capture… or love?
Emily Strealer is tired of being told what she can’t do. Wanting to prove herself to her older sisters and do her part for the war effort, the high school French teacher joins the OSS and trains to become a covert operative. And when she completes her training, she finds herself parachuting into occupied France with her instructor to send radio signals to the Resistance.
Major Gerard Lucas has always been a rogue. Transferring to the so-called “Office of Dirty Tricks” to escape a court-martial, he poses as a husband to one of his trainees on a dangerous secret mission. But when their cover is blown after only three weeks, he has to flee with the young schoolteacher to avoid Nazi arrest.
Running for their lives, Emily clings to her mentor’s military experience during the harrowing three-hundred-mile trek to neutral Switzerland. And while Gerard can’t bear the thought of his partner falling into German hands, their forged papers might not be enough to get them over the border.
Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Linda was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII.
Thanks for hosting me!