Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees

 Set in post-war Germany, this atmospheric story vividly explores the time period and involves a rush, time is precious, to uncover a network of spies and war criminals. And this involves a young British woman who fits a profile of being single, ordinary looking and with a college degree in German – a perfect material for a spy.

London, 1945. Edith is a provincial schoolteacher and craves something more. Her friend Leo encourages her to apply for a position, which would involve her knowledge of German language to set up schools in Germany and have them running. But as it turns out this is just one part. She also gets recruited to be an agent, hunting down Nazis to bring them to justice. With her friend Dori, they need to come up with a code to send intercepted messages once she is in Germany.

Dori is a spy. How did this happen? She is Hungarian who lived in Poland and fell in love with a British Flying Officer. When Germans robbed her of her adopted homeland, she wanted revenge.

Edith has been also making extra money from her recipes, writing cookery tips as Stella Shelling. “Edith enjoyed cooking and liked to think of ways to make the ration go further.” One day, Edith comes across a used copy of Radiation Cookery Book, a one that Dori has as well. She buys it as a light bulb goes on. They will use a code based on recipes, using words from recipes and coding them as they practiced. Everyone one is obsessed with cooking and how to stretch rations. They shouldn’t raise any suspicion.

Through her friend Leo, Edith met Count Kurt von Stavenow. For some time, he was the love of her life. However, under the cover of his interest in history, he fooled them both. As it has just turned out, he was also a Nazi. Equipped with this knowledge, Edith is off to Germany.

Within the first few pages, these incredible women reveal how interesting they are. They know what they want and they go after it. It’s not just words, it’s action that counts. They are dependable. If they sign up for something, they feel the obligation to finish the job. Not afraid to do what is right.

This atmospheric story brings a vivid portrayal of a post-war country: shifting borders, misplaced people, devastation – more rubble than standing buildings in some places, challenge to find a living space, shortages of all kinds – lack of food, medicine, heating, warm clothes leading to malnutrition, TB and pneumonia. As the search for war criminals progresses, the story also reveals scientific research done by the Nazi. You can also feel the rush against the time to catch the Nazis and disappearing documents. You can sense hopelessness. As it turns out setting up a school might be easy, but running it is a challenge. The kids need shoes in order to walk to school during the winter time. They also need food in order to be able to focus on learning and not hungry bellies.

This captivating story is beautifully detailed, providing a sense of place and history, with characters that we care deeply about and do not want to part from.

Release date: 7 July 2020

Source: William Morrow Publisher