Jackie French
The world is at war, and women are working, often behind the scenes, in areas from nursing to espionage. And despite their many successes, these are the women the men don’t see. Spies for Britain are sent across German-occupied Europe. Their secret is that their missions are organised not by the official men in charge, but by the women men don’t see: the assistants, secretaries and librarians. Even Winston Churchill himself is in the early stages of dementia and capably organized by women despite his dozing. Nor will the work of the female CIA, Bletchley Park analysts, or female physicists working on atomic energy be recognised until long after most of them are dead.
Sophie Higgs (now the Dowager Countess of Shillings) is part of a spy ring of woman agents organised by other women. Her friend Ethel Cashman organises the British Ministry of Food, dealing with the USA to maintain vital supplies.
Another friend Anne ventures once more into Mesopotamia, not as an archeologist this time, but to gather intelligence. And in Australia, Midge understands that food is as important as troops. And more than 50 years later, these are still the women history does not see: the women who helped win the war.