This is a fascinating portrait of a woman who is a chameleon. It moves back and forth between the pre-war, war, and post war years in the UK and hits an issue on the home front that's rarely seen in fiction- Nazi and fascist sympathizers. Evelyn's scholarship to boarding school changed the path of her life as does her friendship with Sally, daughter of an incredibly wealthy family. She attends Oxford, where she reads German, and then is recruited into MI5. In 1948, though, she's living on the margins and working in a bookshop, unable to tell her lover what's wrong when they run into Julia, Sally's cousin. What happened when she worked for MI5 to infiltrate the Lion Group? No spoilers from me but know that this builds slowly to a conclusion I found surprising. There are great atmospherics and nice small details. What resonated was the depth of selfishness of several characters and sacrifice by others. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A great read for fans of historical fiction.

What is the cost of denying your background and taking on new identities? How do you live with deception when your friends and family don’t know what you really do? Told in dual timelines, 1930s and 1948, this book reveals the struggle Evelyn Varley faced as she spied for the British among the Nazi sympathizers in Britain in the early days of the war as well as her struggle to really understand who she wanted to be.
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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

This book had a bit of a climb uphill with me to start with since it was set in World War II. I have always struggled with reading about this time period. Not sure why. Maybe I had a past life here I disliked.

I felt like this was hard to get into. I didn’t really resonate with the main character and felt like other characters appearing in the beginning would be better people to follow around. But as the story moves forward and you get to know her better, you get an understanding of what she has to bring to a novel like this.

Evelyn was recruited into the infamous MI5 to infiltrate an underground group of Nazi sympathizers. It shows a balance of a woman caught between two lives. This book is really deep as it shows how the life of a spy could completely change the balance of who you are.

The story was indeed interesting since I love everything about the spy game but I kept wanting to put this down and reach for another book that had grabbed my attention. The writing here is good, the story well-plotted but it just missed that It Factor for me.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebecca Starford for giving me this opportunity to read this ebook.
Evelyn receives a scholarship to a prestigious school and meets Sally and they become friends.
After finishing school Evelyn now in her early twenties and is recruited M15 in counterintelligence. This is during the early part of WWII.
But are our friends who we think they are? Are we who we are? Who is holding a secret?
It kept me thinking who were on the side of the allies or the axis.
It had elements that I like reading especially espionage.

“Most of all, I wanted to know how an ordinary young woman could become a spy.” Rebecca Starford used this concept to create her novel An Unlikely Spy, which tells the story of Evelyn - who step by step becomes a part of MI-5. This is not a story of international travel and glamour. This is a story of a woman using her wits to infiltrate a suspect local organization. What I found interesting about this novel was the exploration of these types of operations using people with no real training. How does it affect the spies and how does it affect the rest of their lives, family, and friends? And then what happens after the lies and subterfuge? Julia, a woman from Evelyn’s past, appears across the street at the beginning of the story and finding out about the secrets they held in common pulled me through to the end.

Evelyn Varley is a small cog in a huge machine. Set during the early days and months of WW2, she's working at a government office, doing mundane tasks, but she has a secret life. This book explore the cost and the emotional toll that keeping secrets from family and friends. What is the cost of taking an alternative identity and deceiving others as well as yourself? I found this book to be very thought-provoking. There are so many stories set during WW2, many involve spies and espionage. This book really looks at what the personal toll can be when young people become involved in something they think is good, but don't really understand how they will be impacted emotionally and the internal scars that creates. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Who is the real Evelyn Varley? We first meet her in 1948 when an unexpected reunion with an old friend catapults her back to the early years of WW II and her work for the 'War Office.' The narrative flows along two timelines. One shows us how Evelyn grew up learning to adapt her environment and gain success. Her connections to a lucrative button factor owner give her a chance to help with the war effort. She eagerly jumps in with both feet and then begins to realize the personal toll of deception and espionage. This book is an intimate character study of before and after. The second timeline shows what life is like for Evelyn after the war and we realize she has a choice to make that will have a huge impact on her future. This book is a reminder of the value of our personal connections and the courage it takes to carry on.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Girl. Power. This book was epic on so many levels. I think this book sheds light on the amazing work of women in the wars, fiction or not. It was incredibly written and I love the cover so much.

The title says it all - a young woman scholarship student is befriended by a girl from a more privileged background, and then her family, before the War puts loyalties in question and upends even closest relationships. Recruited to use her German studies at Oxford to help in the war effort, she is forced to betray those she loves most, and then to keep the secrets from her complicated past from threatening her tenuous grasp on redemption and a chance at happiness after the war.

I'm a huge fan of spy novels, and this met all my expectations of intrigue and danger.

Young Evelyn Varley is recruited into the War Office as a humble typist (perhaps using a bit of subterfuge, after all who types </i>that<i> fast?). She is soon tagged to help with MI5, and there starts an adventure trying to balance her personal life with her undercover life with mixed results.

I really enjoyed the fact this book wasn't your typical middle-war spy novel, or cold-war era setting. That strange time of the phony war during the early days of WWII doesn't seem like an exciting setting for a thrilling spy adventure, but the setting is a perfect backdrop and an interesting look at how those early days of the war were also fraught with danger and perhaps as much at stake as the more well known spy tales of the later war efforts.

Overall a very satisfying read.

This was a fascinating story, well written and a fairly quick read. I learned a bit about the British Nazi sympathizers and their actions before war was declared as well as the role of the United States in its relationship with Britain. An Unlikely Spy gave food for thought especially about the effects of living life undercover and having to profess beliefs contrary to your own. However, it bothered me that Evelyn made some really poor choices. I almost felt that it gave women in these roles a bad name. Not that men in her position haven’t also made bad choices, but she seemed just a bit too capricious in the actions that led to the unraveling of her life.

This couple of years, I have read quite a few novels that take place around the rise of Nazi Germany. I think it is no coincidence that so many have been written and look at them as cautionary tales. In the book, there is a statement “truth doesn’t matter.” It is chilling reflection of our times.

Rebecca Starford has produced a novel that delves into the psychological effects of going undercover to gather intelligence about subversive groups during World War Two. Evelyn has begun working with the War Department for a short while when she is tasked with infiltrating a group that has been identified as supporting Hitler and his planned invasion of England. She discovers that she is good at the assignment, but after she is thoroughly entangled, her secret life and her real life begin to collide.
The story line switches between post-war London with the aftermath of her double life still troubling her, and before and into the early part of the war. The plot is gripping -- full of suspense. There is a great deal of angst, some foul language (including several instances of f***), a homosexual relationship and an instance of masturbation.
I had trouble putting the novel down, but prefer my reads cleaner.

You know how when you're reading Thoreau or Tolkien and they describe nature for several pages and you are bored waiting for something to happen? That was my experience with this book.

Evelyn's day-to-day life is described in such detail that I didn't care anymore about what might happen to her when the war ramps up. I just wanted to be finished with the book.

Jane Collingwood had some pronunciations for words I've never heard before, but it could be a British thing instead of mispronunciation.

I made it to 42% and DNF.

Love the title it says it all about this book there's so many twists and turns it's very well written in LA county go back-and-forth in time and when you go to 1948 you find out what her life is like now then you go back to 1940 and how she got involved in all this and how she always wanted to raise mobile her station in life so she played against people in people used tor to it was a 2 way street but was interesting At the end it was like a twist and how she finally realised who she was New friend Susan who had a lot of money was really angry with there because of what happened in she was not a really good person she had a lot of flaws in our People change and things happen but you always have to look on the bright sidet Peopleere not think she was a spy because she was just pretending to be a secretary you'll find out more hell this played in the book

This is the story of Evelyn, a bright young woman who is recruited into the MI5 intelligence unit during WW2. She shows that she is capable of and willing to do more for the cause, and is sent out to help with the Resistance.

An Unlikely Spy
By Rebecca Starford

Yet another book about England during World War II. While the story is mildly entertaining, I could not really become vested in the outcome – or, in fact, in any of the characters. Evelyn and her "love", Stephen, are portrayed as the standard English milquetoasts – unsure of just who they want to be when they grow up. The other players are never fully enough developed to be seen as other than one dimensional. I never got a clear picture of Evelyn's parents and what she considered wrong with them. Why Sally became her best friend is yet another mystery, and Evelyn's dislike of Sally's husband, Jonty, is another subject which seems to go nowhere. This pattern holds true with all the characters in this book.

If you are looking for a light read that you don't have to really think about, you may enjoy this book. For me, regrettably I found in forgettable.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction, spy novel! I thought that the storyline was realistic, and I enjoyed Evelyn's identity shift and how her character develops as she goes from ambitious individual to learning to keep her two identities from slipping into one another. Having the two timelines helped provide clarity to the before versus after individuality of Evelyn, her personality and her ideas and how they differed dramatically after her time with the MI5.

Pretty darn good...very evocative of the era. An undertold story (female spies during WW2) excitingly rendered. 4.5 stars and highly recommended!

Terror, mystery, twists and turns are all on board with this thrilling thrill ride of a thriller. Grab a beverage, put on something comfy and prepare for intrigue. An "Unlikely Spy" is a must-read by Rebecca Starford.

An Unlikely Spy tells the story of our protagonist Evelyn; a young woman out of Oxford University in Pre-WWII London, living a less than idyllic life. After a referral from a wealthy friends Father to the do secretarial work at the War Office. Evelyn soon shows promise and finds herself beyond the everyday trials of desk work and instead infiltrating a secret group that sympathizes with Hitler and are trying to recruit plants and spread his propaganda. Evelyn soon finds out that the members of this group are not so unfamiliar after all and has to decide whether she'll keep her secret identity or betray those around her.

While I wanted to love this story and it's female lead (i LOVE a story with a strong, smart, cunning woman with deep secrets) I found it so hard to root for Everlyn. She is described as closed off and cold and when we are in her head in first person those warm fuzzy thoughts that would allow the reader to relate to her were not fully explored. There's a light love interest that comes and goes and even then her feelings for him are not that strong to warrant us to want to see her happy. The story also jumps from then present day to her War days and it was at times difficult to follow the transitions as parts of the past were referenced in the present and vice-versa. The friendships are not totally explored either-anything that would make you want her to succeed- is slightly mentioned then moved on.

I am not normally a historical fiction reader so this may not be the story for me. I did think the prose was great and the bits of world building did transport me to the time which was nice to feel. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Historical fiction as it does give a slight different view of WWII.