Coast of Spies - new book for 2014

​Thrilling true tales of espionage in the West Country brought together for the very first time.

From Second World War secret agents and escaping prisoners of war dramatically rescued from the shores of France and Gibraltar, to the American and French revolutionaries infiltrating our harbours, with a few untrustworthy Tudors, devious Jacobites and World War One spies along the way  – Coast of Spies tells the history of spies and their clandestine operations along the south coast of Devon and Cornwall.

From the covert actions of the Helsford Flotilla attacking German forces in the English Channel, to the Free French Forces in Dartmouth delivering ammunition to the resistance, this southern coastline has played a major role in so many conflicts in England’s history. Read about Drake’s lies to the Spanish, the male French spy who dressed as a woman, and the female intelligence agent who assisted Lawrence of Arabia during the First World War, fighting the Turks. And in the air – the ‘black ops’ flights over the Channel; the airline for spies; and the Spanish chicken farmer secretly landing in war-torn Plymouth, who would brilliantly conceal the D-Day preparations from German intelligence.

The South West’s stunning coastline has for centuries been home to freedom fighters, terrorists, informers, warriors and agents, often in hiding, with false identities, and secretly landing on moonless nights on secluded rocky beaches. Sometimes friend, more often foe -  gathered together for the first time, Coast of Spies tells their electrifying stories.