A Life in Secrets

Author: Sarah Helm
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307487474
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 546

Book Description
From an award-winning journalist comes this real-life cloak-and-dagger tale of Vera Atkins, one of Britain’s premiere secret agents during World War II. As the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, Vera Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored special operatives whose job was to organize and arm the resistance in Nazi-occupied France. After the war, Atkins courageously committed herself to a dangerous search for twelve of her most cherished women spies who had gone missing in action. Drawing on previously unavailable sources, Sarah Helm chronicles Atkins’s extraordinary life and her singular journey through the chaos of post-war Europe. Brimming with intrigue, heroics, honor, and the horrors of war, A Life in Secrets is the story of a grand, elusive woman and a tour de force of investigative journalism.

A Life in Secrets

Author: Sarah Helm
Publisher: Nan a Talese
ISBN: 038550845X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 528

Book Description
Describes the life and espionage career of Vera Atkins, a talented agent who rose to the top of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British secret service dedicated to aiding resistance efforts throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, focusing on her personal quest to uncover the fate of twelve female agents who vanished during the war. 20,000 first printing.

A Lifetime of Secrets

Author: Frank Warren
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006204592X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Book description to come.

A Life in Secrets

Author: Sarah Helm
Publisher: Abacus (UK)
ISBN: 9780349119366
Category : Intelligence officers
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Book Description
During World War Two the Special Operation Executive's French Section sent more than 400 agents into Occupied France -- at least 100 never returned and were reported 'Missing Believed Dead' after the war. Twelve of these were women who died in German concentration camps -- some were tortured, some were shot, and some died in the gas chambers. Vera Atkins had helped prepare these women for their missions, and when the war was over she went out to Germany to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines. But while the woman who carried out this extraordinary mission appeared quintessentially English, she was nothing of the sort. Vera Atkins, who never married, covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past. In A LIFE IN SECRETS Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera's many veils and -- with unprecedented access to official and private papers, and the cooperation of Vera's relatives -- vividly reconstructed an extraordinary life.

The Secret Life of Secrets

Author: Michael Slepian
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 9781472145161
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
'If you've ever wondered why we keep secrets and what motivates us to spill them, look no further' Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think AgainAn eye-opening look at why we keep the secrets we keep, how to better understand and cope with them, and when (and how) we should bring them to light.Think of a secret that you're keeping from others. It shouldn't take long. Psychologist Michael Slepian finds that, on average, we are keeping as many as thirteen secrets at any given time. His research, involving more than 50,000 participants from around the world, shows that we most frequently keep secrets about lies we've told, ambitions, addictions, mental health challenges, hidden relationships and financial struggles.Our secrets can weigh heavily upon us. Yet the burden of secrecy rarely stems from the work it takes to keep a secret hidden. Rather, the weight of our secrets comes from carrying them alone. Whether we are motivated to protect our reputation, a relationship, a loved one's feelings, or some personal or professional goal, one thing is clear: holding back some part of our inner world is often lonely and isolating. But it doesn't have to be. Filled with fresh insight into one of the most universal - yet least understood - aspects of human behaviour, The Secret Life of Secrets sheds fascinating new light on questions like: At what age do children develop the cognitive capacity for secrecy? Do all secrets come with the same mental load? How can we reconcile our secrets with our human desires to relate, connect and be known? When should we confess and to whom? And can keeping certain types of secrets actually enhance our well-being? Drawing on over a decade of original research, this book reveals the surprising ways in which secrets pervade our lives, and offers science-based strategies that make them easier to live with. The result is a rare window into the inner workings of our minds, our relationships and our sense of who we are.

The Art of Secrets

Author: James Klise
Publisher: Algonquin Books
ISBN: 1616204435
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
Special Free Preview! A Fire Destroys . . . A Treasure Appears . . . A Crime Unfolds . . . When Saba Khan’s apartment burns in a mysterious fire, possibly a hate crime, her Chicago high school rallies around her. Her family moves rent-free into a luxury apartment, Saba’s Facebook page explodes, and she starts (secretly) dating a popular boy. Then a quirky piece of art donated to a school fund-raising effort for the Khans is revealed to be an unknown work by a famous artist, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Saba’s life turns upside down again. Should Saba’s family have all that money? Or should it go to the students who found the art? Or to the school? And just what caused that fire? Greed, jealousy, and suspicion create an increasingly tangled web as students and teachers alike debate who should get the money and begin to point fingers and make accusations. The true story of the fire that sets events in motion and what happens afterward gradually comes together in an innovative narrative made up of journal entries, interviews, articles, letters, text messages, and other documents.

Body of Secrets

Author: James Bamford
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307425053
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 782

Book Description
The National Security Agency is the world’s most powerful, most far-reaching espionage. Now with a new afterword describing the security lapses that preceded the attacks of September 11, 2001, Body of Secrets takes us to the inner sanctum of America’s spy world. In the follow-up to his bestselling Puzzle Palace, James Banford reveals the NSA’s hidden role in the most volatile world events of the past, and its desperate scramble to meet the frightening challenges of today and tomorrow. Here is a scrupulously documented account—much of which is based on unprecedented access to previously undisclosed documents—of the agency’s tireless hunt for intelligence on enemies and allies alike. Body of secrets is a riveting analysis of this most clandestine of agencies, a major work of history and investigative journalism. A New York Times Notable Book

The Book of Secrets

Author: Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 1400098343
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
"The Book of Secrets is the finest and most profound of Deepak Chopra’s books to date. Want the answers to the secrets of life? Let me recommend that you start right here." —Ken Wilber, author of A Brief History of Everything We all want to know how to find a soul mate, what career would be most fulfilling, how to live a life with meaning, and how to teach our children well. We are looking for a personal breakthrough, a turning point, a revelation that brings with it new meaning. The Book of Secrets—a crystalline distillation of insights and wisdom accumulated over the lifetime of one of the great spiritual thinkers of our time—provides an exquisite new tool for achieving just that. Every life is a book of secrets, ready to be opened. The secret of perfect love is found there, along with the secrets of healing, compassion, faith, and the most elusive one of all: who we really are. We are still mysteries to ourselves, despite the proximity of these answers, and what we most long to know remains lodged deep inside. Because answers to the questions at the center of life are counterintuitive, they are often hidden from view, sequestered from our everyday gaze. In his ongoing quest to elevate our experience, bestselling author Deepak Chopra has isolated fifteen secrets that drive the narrative of this inspiring book—and of our lives. From "The World Is in You" and "What You Seek, You Already Are" to "Evil Is Not Your Enemy" and "You Are Truly Free When You Are Not a Person," The Book of Secrets is rich with insights. It is a priceless treasure that can transport us beyond change to transformation, and from there to a sacred place where we can savor the nectar of enlightenment.

The Book of Secrets

Author: Mat Tonti
Publisher: Millbrook Press
ISBN: 1728405572
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
This exciting graphic novel presents a series of puzzling mystical Jewish stories weaving together a daring adventure tale, following siblings Rose and Ben as they search for their missing grandparents, aided only by a mysterious book, a lantern, and their wits. Anticipating danger, the kids' grandmother, Bubbe, appears to the twins in a cloud of flour and tells them to find a package that contains a book. The midrash stories they findabout the flying Ziz, the giant Og, the gatekeeper at a maze, and a treasure-seeker who lives in a mushroom hutprovide insights into defeating the creepy sorceress scheming to take the book. As the mystery deepens, the siblings must follow the Lamplighter's wise advice, slip past a guard into a maze, reunite with their grandparents, and learn why they have inherited the responsibility to protect the bookand the Jewish people.

Spymistress

Author: William Stevenson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628721863
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Book Description
The New York Times Bestseller by the Author of A Man Called Intrepid Ideal for fans of Nancy Wake, Virginia Hall, The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, The Wolves at the Door by Judith Pearson, and similar works Shares the story of Vera Atkins, legendary spy and holder of the Legion of Honor Written by William Stevenson, the only person whom she trusted to write her biography She was stunning. She was ruthless. She was brilliant and had a will of iron. Born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest, she became Vera Atkins. William Stphenson, the spymaster who would later be known as “Intrepid”, recruited her when she was twenty-three. Vera spent most of the 1930s running too many dangerous espionage missions to count. When war was declared in 1939, her many skills made her one of the leaders of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by, and reporting to, Winston Churchill. She trained and recruited hundreds of agents, including dozens of women. Their job was to seamlessly penetrate deep behind the enemy lines. As General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, the fantastic exploits and extraordinary courage of the SOE agents and the French Resistance fighters “shortened the war by many months.”They are celebrated, as they should be. But Vera Atkins’s central role has been hidden until after she died; William Stevenson promised to wait and publish her story posthumously. Now, Vera Atkins can be celebrated and known for the hero she was: the woman whose beauty, intelligence, and unwavering dedication proved key in turning the tide of World War II.