The Undercover Secretary

By: Ellie Midwood

Narrated by: Annette Chown

France, 1942. “With tremendous effort, I forced myself to hold his gaze. My heart was thrashing inside my chest like a bird battering its wings. The room was suddenly devoid of air. Time itself stood still. They knew who I was. They knew what I’d done.” This heartbreaking World War Two story tells the incredible true story Dora Schaul, one of history’s most courageous women.

It was a misty Wednesday morning. Inside the Gestapo headquarters, you could cut the tension with a knife. There was a traitor in their midst: Someone had leaked a list of the SS to the British press.

The head of the Gestapo called me into his office. Paneled oak walls, a grand piano in the corner, rugs lining the floor—the place where he ordered executions every day.

I sat at the desk, reaching for the typewriter and adjusting the paper. On the wall, the clock ticked loudly.

He stood over me; I could almost feel his breath on my neck. “I don’t know where the leak came from. Do you?” he asked.

I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling. I was sure he could hear the thrashing of my heart.

Because I wasn’t just a secretary: I was an undercover Jewish girl. The person who fetched them tea, typed their letters, and made them laugh was their enemy. And my day of reckoning had arrived....

Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network, and The Lilac Girls will be utterly swept away.

©2023 Ellie Midwood (P)2023 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

Misleading

The story is good, but the title is misleading. Dora didn’t become a secretary to the Nazi until the last several chapters. The beginning was interesting and engaging. This is more factually a novel about a girl fighting in the resistance movement. The narrator was excellent.

How courageous Dora truly was!

Thank you for bringing her story to life! Truly remarkable! It is amazing the things people did back then to help others and to stay alive. A wonderful read! I couldn’t stop listening.

Review

Story jumped around and was difficult to follow at times. Disconnected story Line in my opinion.

Fantastic story

This is an amazing story bringing to life the heroic actions of resistance fighters and the protagonist specifically. My only dissatisfaction is the use of phraseology and readers with heavily British accents for characters clearly not British.

awesome story

A truly gripping original story, more need to read these to understand what is going on in our world right now. Thank you to Dora.