Sharon Maas, the author of The Last Agent of Paris, was born in Georgetown, Guyana in 1951 and following many years of international travel, settled in Germany where she married, studied, worked and raised children. Now retired, she continues to write from her home in Ireland. Among her many published novels, The Violin Maker’s Daughter is another harrowing novel set in World War II and worth the read.
While I have read a multitude of historical fiction set in both World War I and World War II, I have never read one so intriguing and emotional. The novel, The Last Agent in Paris is based on the true story of Noor Inayat Khan. Who was Noor? She was raised by an American mother and an Indian father, a musician and eloquent speaker raised in the Sufi tradition of peace and love in which Noor and her three siblings thrived in an atmosphere of serenity and spirituality; then came the Nazis. In 1940, Noor and her family were forced to flee to England for safety. Desperate to contribute to saving France from the Nazis and perhaps work for the Resistance, Noor began training as a wireless operator in England. In 1943, she arrived in France. With her perfect French, she was soon assigned to an illustrious spy network, the SOE. Now known as Madeleine, her search for safe places to broadcast her messages to England is steeped in intrigue and constant danger as her life is continually in peril as fellow agents are captured. Will Noor become the last agent in Paris?
I could not put this book down and yet was not anxious to reach the end.