Mr. Churchill's Secretary

 by Susan Elia MacNeal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maggie Hope is an English girl who was orphaned at a young age. She was sent to an aunt in New England and was raised there. Maggie is an intrepid young woman who is a math whiz and is taking a relatively unprecedented step in going for her doctorate in mathematics at a prestigious university. When she is bequeathed her grandmothers house in London she planned on making a quick trip across the pond to sell it and get back to her life. The house proves hard to sell and Maggie keeps it open by renting rooms and gets herself a job.

One day an American friend whom she knew in college and who also lodges with her tells her about a secretarial job at 10 Downing Street with the then Prime Minister Mr. Churchill. This kind of a job  won't use any of Maggie's talents but she takes it anyway.

In the next few months Maggie begins to learn that there are mysteries about her past as well as plenty of mysterious things going on at work. WWII has begun and Britain has joined they fray. The problems confronting England are the rapid advancement of the Germans on one front that has all worried about invasion, while on the other hand the IRA is stepping up it's terroristic activities in order to help out the Germans.

The story is intricate, fascinating and well done. There are plenty of small details that MacNeal includes about the daily life that added to the ambience. For instance in getting London ready for a possible invasion all the dogs were sent to the countryside or euthanized for the fear that barking would alert the invading forces to the presence of the the citizens. Just imagining the attention to the small problems the British aside from rationing, blackout curtains and fear gave the story depth.