The Shadow Network takes us back to the world of WW2 espionage that she introduced in The Silk Code. This story features Neil Callaghan from the earlier book but it is a separate story about a different aspect of Britain’s secret war against Germany. It centres on the work of the Political Warfare Executive which pumped out black propaganda to the Reich. It was a significant part of the British war effort, pioneering tactics that we see used in conflicts nowadays. It’s fascinating stuff and deserves to be better known. Swift, as ever, writes with authority and I loved those parts of the book.

The social background to the story also gives vivid insights into the world of the time. The heroine, Lilli Bergen, is a half-Jewish German, who we first meet living in Berlin. Swift gives some idea of the reality of life for Jews at the time. Lilli’s (non-Jewish) father disappears into the camps – her mother is already dead – and Lilli flees to Britain. There, she thinks she is safe until she is caught up in the anti-German hysteria that saw Jewish refugees rounded up alongside Nazi sympathisers and interned on the Isle of Man. Swift catches the terror of Jews who had lived under a police state being suddenly ordered from their homes to live, without family or friends, behind barbed wire.

Fortunately for Lilli, the Political Warfare Executive needs a German singer to entertain on a radio show designed to appeal to German soldiers. The songs are interspersed with propaganda designed to undermine morale.

In her new job she meets an old boyfriend from Germany – somebody she believes to be a Nazi collaborator. Instead of denouncing him to the police, she decides to investigate on her own. It’s a trope of this sort of fiction (one I’ve been accused of myself) that your hero will find themselves in a situation where they have to undertake a risky job without any kind of backup, although they are surrounded by people who could easily help them. Swift does a good job of explaining why Lilli insists on becoming a (frankly unconvincing) Mata Hari even when she has clear evidence that her ex-boyfriend is a wrong ’un, but I did struggle to suspend my disbelief. I had particular problems when she gets engaged to the villain and moves in with him. I know it was wartime and that people let things slip a little, but I was surprised that nobody seems to have thought this was odd. What, to me, was even odder was that, though the man is a cad and a bounder, he accepts that they will share a bedroom without actually having sex. That’s a necessary plot device, as there is a romantic subplot in which Lilli is saving herself for her true love.

Will Lilli save the day and will her apparent philandering be forgiven? No plot spoilers here, but no great surprises in the book either.

Like all Deborah Swift’s books, this is a joy to read and the story bowls along fast enough to skim over the more implausible elements – and you learn a lot about the war years on the way.

The Shadow Network is historical fiction set during World War Two.

This is the second book in the WW2 Secret Agent series, but it can easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.

Lilli Bergen is a refugee from Berlin. Her mother was Jewish, and Lilli escaped after her father was attacked and taken by the Brown Shirt Youth. She came to London, but was later rounded up with other women of German descent and sent to the Isle Of Man.

Lilli loved singing, and a previous short stint singing in a London club was noted on her records. Luckily, both her German heritage and her singing voice brought her to the attention of the Political Warfare Executives who were creating a radio station that would transmit false information to the German armies.

It is here that she reconnects with her student sweetheart, Irishman Bren. However, he now insists on being called Johnny and Lilli is very suspicious of the stories that he tells.

I really enjoyed the role of the radio network and the part it played in the war espionage campaign. Although this is a work of fiction, it is based on real events and was quite believable. I also liked the parts about Johnny; I often read war stories showing how British secret agents survived in Europe under the eyes of the enemy, so it was good to see the roles reversed on British soil.

Deborah Swift never disappoints and The Shadow Network is another winner. Although there are a couple of character connections to the first book in the series, The Silk Code, this one can definitely be read as a standalone. As always, this author enlightened me about an aspect of World War II, the use of black propaganda by the British in the form of fake radio broadcasts. It was fascinating and quite a production, aimed at Germany and run by the Political Warfare Executive. The heroine, Lilli Bergen, is a German Jewish refugee in England and a woman of many unusual talents. The villain, Brendan Murphy, her ex-boyfriend in Berlin is an IRA/Abwehr agent who shows up to work the broadcasts. The result is a pulse-pounding game of cat & mouse in a tautly written plot that made me turn the pages faster and faster! I love how Deborah Swift writes historical figures and events into her story, intermingling them seamlessly with the fictional characters and plot.

Fake news and fascism are back with us and parts of this book read eerily like today's headline news. The following quote hit home for me. "They have a loyalty to a warped dictator and will stop at nothing to see him succeed. It's not about what's really best for the people, it's about them. Them having the right to dictate what's best for all of us." This latest book is excellent and I hope there will be another one to follow soon!

Many thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the ARC. All opinions and the review are my own.

Lilli Bergen has to flee her own country because she’s a Jew. She finds safe haven in England but only briefly. When the war arrives on British shores, she suddenly becomes the enemy and is interned alongside other Germans and Nazi-sympathisers. Many of us – “snowflakes” of the 21st century – would have given up hope and lay low until the end of the war, but Lilli is made of sturdier stuff. She is recruited for the “fake-news” propaganda radio broadcasting directly to German soldiers, undermining their morale. She fights in this war like any other soldier.
But that isn’t the end of Lilli’s story. In her trademark fashion, Swift never lets up, never slows down, never pauses for breath. For soon the radio station is joined by Bren, Lilli’s old boyfriend who betrayed her and her father to the Brown Shirts. If he is a German spy, Lilli has a duty to unmask him before innocent lives are lost. But what if she’s wrong?
The Shadow Network is the second instalment in Deborah Swift’s WW2 Secret Agents series. A character or two from book 1 make a welcome appearance here, especially so because Swift gives them a second chance to redeem themselves. However, this book stands in its own right and you don’t have to have read the first one to follow the story.
As with all of Swift’s books, the characterisation is complex and dynamic. She builds suspense brick by hard brick and cracks it all open only in the final chapters. There is action, mystery and romantic entanglements stirred into the story for a fantastically entertaining read. And I won’t even mention the research and revelations about the rationale behind Bren’s actions, because that would be telling.

A well crafted tale written by an author whose books I admire, having read most of them. This book did not disappoint. The heroine is half Jewish and her father is taken away by the Nazis,
She comes to England as a refugee, and this novel is her story.
An excellent study of her character and a compelling and moving story.
Highly recommended.