I enjoyed Operation Moonlight by Louise Morrish The dual time line worked well .I particularly liked the contemporary story, where we are introduced to an elderly woman and her carer. Their relationship and carer Tali’s back story were an excellent addition to the book.
It is this modern day story line that introduces 100 year old Betty’s past as an SOE operative in France in 1944. The step back to that period shows the extensive research and passion the author has for the period. While it is the main. plot line of the book, it isn’t the only one and I liked them all.

A brilliant read.I really enjoy there dual time line novels, it begins with 100 year old Betty finding an old skeleton key in her dressing gown pocket but she can't quite remember how she came by it.As the story unfolds its full af drama, bravery romance and secrets that have been kept for over half a century. It was so Interesting reading about the incredible bravery of ordinary people who served in the SOE during the second world war and a absolutely loved Betty's story and really recommend this book

I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve come to really enjoy dual timeline books, this one begins in 2018. 100 year old Betty is trying to sleep but the full moon is too bright, as she reaches into her pocket she finds a strange looking key but she can’t remember what it’s for. Betty can hear her live in carer Tali snoring in the next room, Tali is also her friend not just her carer.

1944 begins with Elisabeth catching a train then a bus from Guildford to London after receiving a letter from a Captain Porter to attend a meeting in London to discuss the photographs of France she sent to the Admiralty. She soon finds out that Captain Porter works for the SOE and he recruits her to do some dangerous undercover work in France but that’s only if she passes the training camp.

Historical Fiction is possibly my favourite genre to read and Operation Moonlight reminds me why it’s my favourite genre to read.

Betty and Doris have been friends since 1944 they met when they both ended up at the training centre together after being recruited.

I adored the friendship they had all through the war and after right up until 2018.

I was so enthralled by the detailed parts of the war effort and the secretive organisations we set up to try and beat the Germans, you can tell the author really knows what she’s writing about and must have researched this subject extensively.

A truly captivating novel that has everything you could wish for! It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I throughly enjoyed this wonderful and very interesting book. It had me gripped all the way through from beginning to end. The pages just flew by. Another author to watch out for. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

The lives of the women who were part of the SOE are, quite simply, incredible and they absolutely deserve to be remembered and recognised for their vital part in the war. Morrish brings some of their secret sacrifices to light in this book through a dual timeline detailing Betty's life now as a Centurian with her carer, Tali, as well as her life as Elisabeth or Elise during the war.

The main character of Betty / Elisabeth is fiesty, funny and fresh - I absolutely fell in love with her in both her lives. The secondary characters of Tali and her fellow SOE trainees are also brought to life well and you feel so much empathy for all the character's as various scenes are played out. There was a great twist towards the end too which I could feel building but it definitely came as a shock!

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend - the stories of the SOE are fascinating and it is clear that Morrish has done her research particularly well. A well crafted story that any fan of history would adore!

**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **

A wonderful historical fiction book set in the past 1944 and the present 2018. I loved the character Betty. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Thanks to the publishers Random House UK and NetGalley for the e-arc.

Tali is looking after a 99 year old lady, Betty, whilst running away from issues at home. She comes across an old suitcase with all sorts of interesting items including a gun. Do these items hold clues to what Betty did during the war? The other part of the story is Betty's and tells us about how she was recruited into the SOE, underwent training, and then was dropped into occupied France on a dangerous mission. Things did not go quite as planned, and people do not end up being as trustworthy as she hoped. Fascinating look at what the women did in the SOE in the War

I really enjoyed this book especially the dual timelines and Betty, what a tonic she is and was.

In her 1944 days she was a force to be reckoned with, and 2018 Betty is still just as full of verve and sass.

Tali was also a great, likeable character too.

Overall this is a five star read.

𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙝

Although I love a wartime story, I don't think I've ever read a book like this before - the premise was such an intriguing way of portraying the incredibly brave acts that no human should have to encounter. The dual timeline alternated between 1944, where we see Elisabeth being recruited and trained by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and 2018, which brings us Betty (older Elisabeth), celebrating her 100th birthday with her carer Tali, reminiscing her past, as her two worlds collide.

This was beautifully written, well-paced, and completely immersive: I truly felt like I was in the pages. The wartime scenes in England and France felt so real; the tension and terror palpable, and the interminable, inherent fear everyone at that time had to live with was written so believably. 

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭  was the perfect combination of detailed research blended with fiction and incorporated everything from love, betrayal, and heartbreak, to mystery and action. Elisabeth was completely selfless and her chapters in the 40's gave a fascinating and (what certainly seemed like) a knowledgeable insight into the gruelling SOE recruitment, training, and missions. The dangerous and isolating work definitely had a saddening impact on Betty's life and older Betty pulled on my heartstrings - she was such a strong woman (plus I was also invested in the carer Tali's story, which I loved!) I'd recommend this if you're a lover of wartime fiction! 

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 + 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐀𝐑𝐂!

‘Operation Moonlight’ is a heartfelt story about Betty and her experiences as a Secret Operations Executive in France during the Second World War, and Betty’s carer Tali who, while investigating Betty’s own story, is desperate to find her own place in the world.

The main characters in this book really came to life, particularly Tali, who I could identify with as well as wish to be more like in terms of how much she cares for Betty. And it’s great to see a book focused on not one, but two female leads. The plot is well paced too and it is certainly an easy read, even though it deals with some quite dark topics.

While I have read other similar books and there is nothing particularly new in the approach, I did enjoy reading it. I did see the twists and turns in the story coming and it was a bit disappointing that there wasn’t more detail on the SOE’s operations in France but I guess the characters might not have known more so it was irrelevant detail in their stories.

Overall though, I enjoyed it and I’m sure others will too, particularly as a holiday read for people who like books set in that era.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Love this book. Fascinating, detailed, war drama with hint of romance. I didn’t want to put it down as I was intrigued in the planning and execution of the plot. One of the best books I’ve read.

A fabulous WW2 fiction story around a small group of spies newly introduced to espionage. This story has 2 timelines 1944 and 2018 when Elizabeth now Madam Betty and nearly 109 years old looks back. It’s more than just a fiction encounter and more than a love story. The characters are believable and it’s a story than I could buy into.
Thanks to Louise and her publishers. Thanks also to NetGalley.

I read a lot of WW2 fiction so a lot of this book is covering very familiar ground for me - the SOE recruitment and training and on the ground active service. It was well written and I did pick up one thing relating to the training that I hadn't read about before. Elisabeth is not a character that I felt any empathy for as a young woman (1944 of the dual timeline) and hardly any as an old woman in 2018. Talia is a great character but I am not sure that her side story was really necessary - just a trope that's in too many books currently. Overall it was a pretty good read with the dual timelines dealt with well; and a bit of a twist that wasn't unexpected to this reader. With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review a e-ARC of this title.

I didn't know much about the book or author and chose it on the blurb alone - and so glad I did. It was very well written, totally absorbing, and with a very authentic feel - probably because it is based on the stories of several unsung heroines in England's history.

The story is told in two timelines, cleverly intertwined. In the current one Madame Betty is rapidly approaching her 100th birthday, and being cared for by Tali a lovely carer with secrets of her own. The other is the 1940s and the world is at war. Elizabeth, a French speaker, is recruited by the SOE to be parachuted into Nazi occupied France to obtain information necessary to the war effort. When Tali finds an ancient suitcase belonging to Betty from her past, the two worlds start to collide.

The novel is very fast paced in the 1940s timeline, and gives a real insight into the real SOE recruits, and how much they sacrificed so that the allies would win the war. A fantastic 5 star story.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4815839952

A historical novel, being a biography of a fictitious woman that involves true events that took place at the time. Her life is recounted in two phases in parallel, in her closing years in her old age and as a young woman during WWII. How she was recruited into the SOE and joined the ranks of the FANY bypassing army regulations to enable her training as an agent. Learning about weapons, wireless communications, unarmed combat together with gruelling forced marches and parachute training. On successfully passing out, she was assigned to be dropped to France to obtain specific intelligence to bring home. Dropping at night into the unknown, having to depend on contacts with strangers for information and direction, travelling on her own through German occupied towns and cities was a hair raising experience with fear of interrogation and arrest by the Gestapo. Then having to kill at the pickup, to escape home with mission accomplished and then to settle back into normal life bound by the secret’s act. Unknown and unhonoured to die a lonely old age with only a loving carer to ease her passing.

We follow the story of Betty as she is employed and trained by the Special Operations Executive, along with other recruits, and eventually sent on a mission to France. The perspective splits between then (where she’s in her 20s in 1944) and now (as she’s reaching her 100th birthday in 2018).

I absolutely loved the part of the story set in the war and couldn’t put it down! It was all really well written, and would have had me on the edge of my seat.. if it weren’t for the time-split, which made various elements somewhat predictable. I saw various twists coming and honestly I could have done without the “current” time and much of that plot line.. It was more a “plod through it to get to the good bit again”.

This is the story of Betty a brave unsung hero who was sent to France as a young girl to spy during WW2.The story is told between two timelines 1940's and 2018.Based on the lives of 39 other woman who were sent to France during this time it is a reminder to all of us how incredibly brave they were and without their efforts the War might have had a different ending .A very interesting and well researched book .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

this is a then & now book 1944 & 2018 it is about a SOE female operative during her recruitment, training and mission then in her later life. I felt I was present in France and felt scared !! I can highly recommend this and have no hesitation in giving 5*

Brilliant! Well written, spanning the past and the present, this is a heartwarming story of bravery. A page turner which I thoroughly recommend.

Louise Morrish has written an engaging novel about the SOE, with the advantage of an interesting modern strand. This is the story of Elisabeth who was recruited by SOE in early 1944 because of her language skills and was dropped in to France shortly before D-day. In 2018 and approaching her hundredth birthday she has always abided by the Official Secrets Act, even though the existence and activities of SOE were in the public domain by this time. Despite her relatively short secret wartime occupation Elisabeth's whole life has been impacted by the events of 1944. Recommended reading.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.