Mrs. Zigzag: The Extraordinary Life of a Secret Agent's Wife

by Betty Chapman, Ronald L. Bonewitz

When Betty Farmer married double agent Eddie Chapman, Agent Zigzag, she knew her life would never be ordinary. Yet even before her marriage to Eddie, her life involved incendiary bombs, serial killers, film roles and love affairs with flying aces. After her marriage, she coped with Eddie’s mistresses, smuggling, separations and personal traumas. Coming from humble origins, Betty would, in time, own a beauty business, a health farm and a castle in Ireland, become the friend and confidant of film stars and an African president, and the honoured guest of Middle Eastern royalty. In an age where women were still very much second-class, she became a perfect example of what, in spite of everything, was possible. Much has been written about Eddie Chapman, films have been made, television programmes produced. Yet alongside Eddie for most of his extraordinary life was an equally extraordinary woman: Mrs. Zigzag. This book tells her story.

Genres: World War II, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[Muhammad Syed · Rating 2 out of 5]

An utter disappointment. From start to finish Mrs Chapman is found moaning about her hardships suffered at the hands of Eddie while blaming others for hedr hubby's mistakes.

[Zanne Raby · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre, I wanted to know more about Betty Farmer, the woman he finally chose to be his wife. It reads like a conversation that you could be having with Mrs. Chapman and yes, it is full of gossipy tidbits. But Betty lived a very full life. Eddy Chapman was a complicated man and from reading the book, I believe Betty was just as complicated. Their lives were full of adventure (or misadventure) and at times almost unbelievable the scrapes they get themselves into. Yes, her husband was a serial philanderer and yes she will moan about this in the book, but she accepted his lifestyle and she hints (mildly) that she that she followed his lead. They travelled throughout Africa when countries were just breaking away from colonial bonds; they hobnobbed with the rich and famous, crossed paths with royalty, locked horns with the IRA and were boom and bust entrepreneurs. I found this book complementary to Agent Zigzag, as it continues the remarkable story of Eddie Chapman after the war, as told by the hard-working woman who loved her ex-spy man. Overall a light, quick read.

[Wayne Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be a little biased as I recently found out that Ypres Betty Chapman nee Farmer is my 2nd cousin 3x removed! For that reason I had to track the book down to read about some of her life with Agent Zigzag. I'm not sure what the other reviewers were expecting - this is someone telling you about their own life in their own words, and that life was lived in a different time to now so she can be forgiven for having certain views on foreign lands...
Betty's life is most definitely exciting and interesting, and yes, almost borders on the unbelievable in places. Where the telling of that story is let down is where Ronald L. Bonewitz often repeats things so that the repeated events are out of sequence with where the reader thought they were with the story. That is my only reason for the single star. Now I need to track down Eddie's story to compare.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been fascinated by Eddie Chapman since I read Ben McIntyre's Agent Zigzag. I was interested to know that his wife Betty wrote her own version of their story. This is isn't a particularly well written book, particularly the last part, when the story is mostly in her own words. It could have used some more research and editing. She is potentially interesting in her own right, having been a business entrepreneur and traveled extensively. She put up with a lot from Eddie, who was a philandering, difficult husband.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because Betty Chapman nee Farmer was my nan’s cousin! It was interesting to read about her life.

However, I think the book is poorly written, jumps about and very boastful through out with more emphasis on money and no mention of her family except children.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I managed to read about one third of it and I decided to abandon it. Sadly it is not what I expected at all, it reads like a gossip column in a lame magazine.
Too many exclamation marks and totally worthless observations. What put me off for good was this: “Ghana was completely uncivilised, no beauty parlours, nothing there at all. “ I cannot doubt the accuracy of this sharp remark…

[Judy]

Decided against finishing this book.