The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish: My Life in Churchill's School for Spies

'My mother thought I was working for the Ministry of Ag. and Fish'

So begins Noreen Riols' compelling wartime memoir. In 1943, just before her eighteenth birthday, Noreen received her call-up papers. When her interviewers realized she spoke fluent French, she was immediately directed to a government building on Baker Street: the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive.

From then until the end of the war Noreen spent her days meeting agents returning from behind enemy lines, acting as a decoy, passing on messages in tea rooms and picking up codes in crossword puzzles.
Vivid, witty and often moving, this is the story of one young woman's secret war, offering readers an authentic and compelling insight into what really went on in Churchill's 'secret army' from one of its last surviving members.

'Riols' personality shines through this perceptive, readable account of those on missions where there was never a better than 50:50 chance of survival' Michael Tillotson, The Times

'A moving tribute to the courageous men and women of the SOE in World War II, sensitively told by Noreen Riols with admirable modesty about her own crucial involvement' Margaret Dickinson, bestselling author of The Clippie Girls

'Told with wit, charm and enthusiasm, it's a compelling read' Choice