Spies & Sweethearts by Linda Shenton Matchett

Spies & Sweethearts: The Story Behind the Story

By Linda Shenton Matchett

One of my favorite aspects of being associated with the Wright Museum is the opportunity to meet men and women who lived during World War II. I love our displays, and I’ve learned a lot about the famous and infamous, but there is nothing like sitting down and talking with those “ordinary” people who did extraordinary things simply because their country asked them.

Five years ago, I was considering what to write next. I had released a couple of WWII mysteries as well as finished my Wartime Bride series, retellings of biblical stories set during WWII. Having read Sarah Sundin’s Sunrise at Normandy which features three brothers, I decided that a series about sisters would be fun to tackle. But how should they serve? What sort of jobs should they hold?

I wandered the museum and studied the exhibits about the various ways women “did their bit” for the war effort. Much has been written about Rosie the Riveter, so I decided to stay away from factories. I still hadn’t decided when one Saturday morning during my shift, I met a woman who worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. With bright, sparkling eyes and a broad smile she regaled me with some of her exploits. At one point, she winked and whispered that she couldn’t tell me everything or she’d have to kill me.

Heart pounding, I knew I had my story. I had to tell her story and that of the other brave women who risked their lives and reputations (“nice girls weren’t spies”) to help put an end to the evil that was stalking the globe. I read numerous memoirs and autobiographies and watched dozens of YouTube interviews. I even managed to get my hands on the training manual for Britain’s Special Operations Executive, on which the organization of the OSS is based. Some of the areas of research entailed the recruitment and selection process and training as well as locations where individuals served (just about everywhere!).

Spies & Sweethearts is book 1 in the Sisters in Service series and features Emily Strealer, the youngest of three sisters. The book is four years old this month, and is still one of my favorite books to have written. Emily’s sister Doris is a Red Cross mechanic featured in The Mechanic & The MD, and their eldest sister Cora is a war correspondent in The Widow & The War Correspondent. It is my hope that each of these books shines the light on the tenacious and often overlooked women of WWII.

Spies & Sweethearts

She wants to do her part. He’s just trying to stay out of the stockade. Will two agents deep behind enemy lines find capture… or love?

1942. Emily Strealer is tired of being told what she can’t do. Wanting to prove herself to her older sisters and do her part for the war effort, the high school French teacher joins the OSS and trains to become a covert operative. And when she completes her training, she finds herself parachuting into occupied France with her instructor to send radio signals to the Resistance.

Major Gerard Lucas has always been a rogue. Transferring to the so-called “Office of Dirty Tricks” to escape a court-martial, he poses as a husband to one of his trainees on a dangerous secret mission. But when their cover is blown after only three weeks, he has to flee with the young schoolteacher to avoid Nazi arrest.

Running for their lives, Emily clings to her mentor’s military experience during the harrowing three-hundred-mile trek to neutral Switzerland. And while Gerard can’t bear the thought of his partner falling into German hands, their forged papers might not be enough to get them over the border.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/m0Od9l

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. Whether you choose my books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. Follow the journeys of relatable characters whose faith is sorely tested, yet in the end, emerge triumphant. Be encouraged in your own faith-walk through stories of history and hope. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Linda was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII.

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