Review: Mr. Churchill's Secretary

Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maggie Hope, recent graduate of Wellesley College, was forced to turn down an MIT scholarship so that she could go to London to sell a house that had been left to her by her grandmother. The house didn't sell, so Maggie, a British citizen, has decided to stay in London. Britain has just declared war on Germany and she hopes to get a job as a private secretary in a government agency. Despite her superb qualifications as a mathematician, all she can obtain is a typist's job in the office of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. She's opened her house to several other women, and she has developed friendships with a number of people. She's frustrated by the limitations of her job, but her life gets very complicated when she discovers that the aunt who raised her has lied about her father. Although it was true that her mother died in an accident, it appears that her father didn't die in that accident despite what she's been told. Things are further complicated by a group of IRA sympathizers who are working to bring the British government down. Maggie discovers that she is in the center of things, although she's not sure exactly what she's in the center of.

I was really drawn into the plot and had a hard time putting this book down. While I did guess part of the resolution, I didn't guess it all. And it appears that this book is the beginning of a series. I will check out the next book.

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