Spy Life...

The first time I came across this book was on mph website. The cover caught my attention and 2 things came to my mind: a) this girl was walking at a fast pace to avoid those who were following her or b) this girl was following someone. It also reminded me of a spy movie (I think it was) which I caught for a few minutes at Michelle’s house. I’m not sure of the title but it was a black-and-white movie starring Audrey Hepburn.

After reading the summary, this book was immediately on my wish-list. Why? Read this:

‘What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? During the long, hot summer of 1976, Ruth Gilmartin discovers that her very English mother Sally is really Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian émigrée and one-time spy.’

For a girl who loves thriller (NOT horror) and crime fiction (especially Agatha Christie’s, even though some despise her books, *cough Daniel and Naveen cough*), there’s no wonder that I’d like to check out this book. By chance, I saw this book in this booklist and immediately, I got my cousin to buy for me. (Hehe…)

After the death of her brother, Eva was approached by Lucas Romer and her brother’s job was offered to her. She thought of rejecting the offer but her father convinced her to do so by telling her to accept it for the sake of her brother. Since she loved her brother very much, she decided to accept it.

Later, she was brought to Lyne Manor and there, she was trained to be a spy. As we know, being a spy is not easy and you cannot trust anyone and that was exactly the most important rule told to her by Lucas:

‘Maybe it’s the only rule you need. Maybe all the other rules I’ll tell you are just versions of this rule. “The one and only rule”. Don’t trust anyone – not even the one person you think you can trust most in this world. Always suspect. Always mistrust.’

After her training, she joined Lucas’ team and worked in a small news agency. Their task was to spread rumours through the news and eventually, helped to avoid the up-coming war. On one of her journey, something weird happened. Her next journey was even weirder and she almost got herself killed. After these entire journeys, she found out the inevitable truth – she was betrayed.
Just as much as she doubted the truth of her mother’s story, Ruth was intrigued and later she was asked to do something for her mother. As an English teacher whose job was to teach foreign students, we were introduced to some of her interesting students. Ruth was a single mother and she had to deal with her brother-in-law who showed up out of the blue and stayed at her house.

This book may not be as gripping as Agatha Christie’s novel but it is quite interesting since it’s like reading a former spy’s diary. Who doesn't like to read somebody else’s diary and especially that someone is a spy??? I did have my suspicion about the outcome of Eva’s life but it seemed a little impossible. Just in case you are wondering, my suspicion turns out to be correct. Bottom line, I did enjoy reading this book.

Just so you know, this book was the winner of the 2006 Costa Novel Award and had been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club 2007. So just exactly how good is this book, go figure ;)