The Economist magazine describes Clare Mulley’s book ‘The Spy Who Loved: the Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville’ as an “assiduously researched, passionately written and highly atmospheric biography”.
She survived WW II as a spy only to be murdered in London in 1952 by a man who became obsessed with her after she failed to return his love.
The book tells the story of Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, who was born in 1908 in Warsaw to Count Jerzy Skarbek and Stefania, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banker.
When Poland was attacked by Germany in 1939, Krystyna and her then husband Jerzy Giżycki were in Africa and the pair sailed for England, where she demanded to be taken in to work for the British Secret Intelligence Service’s Section ‘D’.
MI6's records describe her as “a flaming Polish patriot, expert skier and great adventuress, absolutely fearless”.
Skarbek was sent to Hungary and Poland to organise Polish couriers to take intelligence reports from Nazi-occupied Warsaw to Budapest – a task which exposed her to great dangers, including a brief arrest by the Gestapo in 1941.
She was also sent on missions to Egypt and France.
After the war was over, the now Christine Granville was awarded the OBE medal by the British and the Croix de guerre by the French was her daring exploits in service of the allies.
Although she never was, as had been speculated, the lover of Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, it is thought she may have been the inspiration for the character Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love.
As well as a fearless spy, Christina was extremely attractive to men and after separating from her husband during the war she went on to have several affairs.
Her tragic death came just seven years after the end of WW II, when, after years of comparatively aimless existence, including working on cruise ships, she was stabbed to death by Dennis Muldowney, a man whose advances she had continually spurned.
Skarbek is buried in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green in north west London.
Patriot
The Economist writes that Clare Mulley “has done an excellent job of presenting the tangled anecdotes and realities of this secret agent’s life…”.
“The Spy Who Loved’ is not just the story of an uniquely brave and complicated patriot, but also a scholarly and tautly written account of secret operations in occupied Europe,” the magazine writes.
According to Nigel Jones writing in The Daily Telegraph, “Clare Mulley has done a dogged piece of detective work piecing together Christine’s ultimately tragic life. Understandably obsessed by her charismatic subject, she has written a thrilling book, and paid overdue homage to a difficult woman who seized life with both hands”.
Clare Mulley’s book is published by Macmillan and is also to be brought out by St Martin’s Press in the United States.
An earlier book on Krystyna Skarbek, 'A Search for Christine Granville’ by Madeleine Masson (1912-2007) was published in a Polish translation last year, under the title ‘Wojna, moja miłość. Krystyna Skarbek – ulubiona agentka Churchilla’ (War, My Love, Krystyna Skarbek – Churchill’s Favourite Agent). (pg/mk)