This is a good historical fiction book. It is inspired by real events
It is well written and I liked the characters
A good book

Minnie Gray’s journey to become a beautiful spy is thrilling, gripping and captivating! This novel captures all of the emotions, fear, anxiety and anticipation that comes with being an undercover spy.

Rachel Hore’s novel really brings this captivating tale to life and makes it accessible for all. Her characterization of Minnie is real and three-dimensional; readers will empathize with her struggles and admire her courage in the face of adversity.

A Beautiful Spy is a page-turner; it’s impossible to put down and an absolute must-read! With clever plot twists and captivating prose, this novel will keep readers on the edge of their seat and eager to find out what’s next. Highly recommended!

A captivating read which is thought provoking and highlights the role of women in society at that time. Enjoyed the characters and the storyline, it moved along nicely and held my attention throughout.
I am a fan of this genre so it appealed to me, not sure if anyone who isn’t would though.
Well written and engaging.

This was my first time reading a book by The author Rachel Hore. I have to say I didn’t find A Beautiful Spy an easy read and it was a struggle to finish.

Not my typical genre of books, but it was a really engaging and interesting premise that had me enthralled.

A book by Rachel Hore is always worth reading and this is no exception. Based on a real heroine it keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times and makes you wonder if you could do it

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

Rachel Hore is one of my favourite go-to authors when I want well-written, thoughtful escapism. Her latest is ‘A Beautiful Spy’, a pre-Second World War spy story based on a real case involving the infiltration of a communist spy cell.
At a garden party in the summer of 1928, Minnie Gray is bored. She’s there with her mother who is trying to fix up her up with another young man, when she notices a striking young woman. When the enigmatic Miss Pyle asks if Minnie would consider working for the government, Minnie recognises a chance to escape her mother’s suffocating attention and her boring job at the Automobile Association.
Minnie meets Captain Max Knight, ‘M’, and is recruited as a member of British Intelligence’s M Section with the code name M/12. She moves to London, finds a flat and a part-time secretarial job. Her first task is to attend meetings of the local Friends of the Soviet Union group and volunteer to help. Her new life must be kept a secret from her Tory-supporting family and boyfriend, Raymond.
What follows is Minnie’s progressive immersion in the British Communist Party. Always a self-reliant person, Minnie begins to struggle with the secrecy. Feeling she belongs nowhere, living her life in disconnected bubbles of people who are unaware of each other, she seeks out new friends at a hockey club that she can be herself with. Minnie’s career as a spy has a up and down trajectory, most of the time nothing happens, and she feels she is failing her bosses. But all the time she is cementing her reputation as a reliable, trustworthy secretary and this pays off when she is asked to take secret money to communist supporters in India. Minnie meticulously keeps records, writes reports for M and tries to be nosy while seeming disinterested. As the tension increases and she feels watched, the danger she is risking becomes real and not a game.
Hore added her own imagination to the factual story of real-life spy Olga Gray who spied for Maxwell Knight of British Intelligence and whose testimony helped to convict a number of communists in 1938 for treachery. Using a true story as the foundation of a novel has its advantages and disadvantages. At times the story pauses, for exposition or perhaps because there were periods in the real life Gray’s story when not a lot happened, and this means the flow of tension can seem stop-start.
I really enjoyed ‘A Beautiful Spy’. It’s the sort of novel I wish I could find more often. It certainly means I’ll be reading the non-fiction books mentioned by Hore in her Author’s Note at the end.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

This was quite a slow-paced book compared to what I had been reading prior, but it was ok. I didn’t realise it was a based on a true story to begin with.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Thanks to #NetGalley, the publisher Simon & Schuster UK and the author Rachel Hore for providing me with a digital ARC of #ABeautifulSpy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book based on a true story. The characters were well written and Minnie Gray (based on Olga Gray) comes across as being an inspiring human being. This book comes highly recommended.

A really interesting story of a female spy set in the 1920’s. Minnie Gray lives a fairly normal life in suburban Edgbaston until she takes a job in London that will change her life as she knows it. Rachel Hore shows us the less glamorous side of being a spy - the monotonous secretarial work that Minnie has to undertake whilst allowing her home to be used for assignations between what turn out to be spies.
The book is based on the real life spy Olga Gray and I enjoyed it immensely. The character of Minnie is extremely well written and shows her to be a tough, reliable and resilient woman who put her life on the line for her country.

Having read one previous Rachel Hore book and very much enjoyed it, and with a new found love of historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book and wasn't disappointed.

It is 1928 and Minnie Gray lives at home with her mother in Edgbaston and works as a typist - the expectation is that she will marry and have children, but she wants more from life. When she meets a young woman who offers an introduction that enables her to work for the British government as a spy she jumps at the chance to move to London and do something worthwhile for her country. Asked to infiltrate the Communist movement, we see her deal with the conflicting emotions and the pressures that come from leading a double life, as well as the personal sacrifices she is forced to make and the dangerous situations she finds herself in.

Based on a true story, it's a well researched and beautifully written book. Minnie is a fascinating character and we get to experience all her emotions as she battles with the the loneliness that accompanies her secret life and really brings to life the fact that espionage is not always the glamorous and exciting job we are often led to believe.

I have a little confession to make. Although I have several of Rachel’s books on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read one before……until now that is. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘A Beautiful Spy’, I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to get to know Rachel’s work and so I accepted the invitation. Having thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘A Beautiful Spy’, I am now rather cross at myself that I left is this long to discover how fantastic her books are.
Anybody who knows me well, knows that not only am I a book geek but I am also a huge history nerd, with a particular interest in Twentieth Century historical fiction. So you probably understand why the synopsis of ‘A Beautiful Spy’ screamed ‘read me’ at me. As soon as I started to read, I knew that I was going to thoroughly enjoy reading this book. I made the fatal mistake of starting to read the book shortly before I went to bed. Let’s just say that I was so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time. I ended up reading into the wee small hours and I had a distinct ‘lack of sleep’ hangover the following morning, but it was so worth it. I found that this book travelled everywhere with me as I couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story. It was as if the book had developed a hold over me and it was a hold that I wasn’t willing to break. I soon got to the end of the story. I found ‘A Beautiful Spy’ to be a gripping and thrilling read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘A Beautiful Spy’ is superbly written. Rachel has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. She certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be one hell of a read. For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout. Rachel has clearly done a lot of research into the era in which the story is set and this shines through in the quality of her writing. Reading ‘A Beautiful Spy’ was a bit like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. I felt as though I was part of the story and that’s thanks to Rachel’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘A Beautiful Spy’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Rachel’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

In the late 1920s, a secretary is recruited to put her skills to good use helping to find out what some Communist Party activists are up to.. Her new role will dominate her life for years to come. My political views are very different from those of Minnie Grey, the novel's heroine, but I enjoy stories about secretaries who are a bit more than they seem, and this was quite an entertaining read. I was also interested by the author's exploration of how lonely the life of a single female spy in her era must have been, and the mundane and even rather dull side of such espionage is also portrayed.

A different type of book by this author.

I’ve read most of Rachel Hore’s books and have always been bowled over by her descriptive capabilities and stories of various people and places. This book is different to her previous ones and although I enjoyed the story, for me, it was not really a Rachel Hore book.

However, the story of Minnie Gray, living at home in Birmingham and being told to look forward to nothing more than marrying and having children, will resonate with lots of people. In the 1920’s this was what a young woman’s life was all about, but Minnie has always wanted something more. When she meets a young woman at a meeting and gets invited to meet a mysterious man in London her interest is piqued.

Minnie is initially excited at the chance to become a spy by infiltrating a group known as Friends of the Soviet Union and is thrilled to think that she is helping her country fight back against the Communist threat. However, as time goes by nothing seems to be happening, she has no friends and is left for weeks on her own working long tiring hours with no obvious aim. When she finally gets invited to collaborate with the Communist Party she is assailed by guilt as she gets to know and like the person she is going to betray.

This is a compelling story about how the work of a spy, far from being glamourous and exciting is in fact lonely and full of fear. This was made even clearer when I discovered that Minnie’s story is not a work of fiction but based on a real-life person.

Although I prefer Rachel Hore’s previous books more, I thought this proved what a versatile writer she is. It perfectly evoked the era in the 1920’s up to the 1940s and once again made me grateful that times have changed, for the better for women today.



Dexter

Elite Book Group received a copy of the book to review

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley and all opinions are my own.
This book has an interesting idea behind it and I was interested to learn that it was based on a true story. The writing is OK. However, the story is very slowly paced and lacks enough twists and turns on the story to make it a real page turner.

This book shows you the bravery of Britain’s men and women through the war years and what they endured for our freedom. I did find the storyline to drag a little and it just wasn’t gripping enough. At times it seemed more of a non fiction book rather than fiction.

This is the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I liked the well researched mix of historical facts and fiction and the style of writing.
The book is slow burning and I liked the vivid historical background and Minnie, an interesting and fleshed out characters.
Even if this based on the life of a real spy I think that the Minnie and her struggle to maintain the balance are at the centre of the story.
The author is a good storyteller and the book kept my attention till the end.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, I have to confess I usually get bored with spy thrillers and lose interest but not with this one. I found the read engaging, dramatic and an exciting read. I was gripped by the events and wanted to keep reading. I found Minnie to be a very engaging character, I enjoyed getting to know her and her story. Minnie goes on quite the adventure throughout this read and so will you by reading it.

This was a really enjoyable story.I loved that the spy was female and so brilliant.Book kept me interested until very end.I love Rachel's books I think I have read everyone of them and this doesn't disappoint.Can't wait for her next book.