A Quiet Life

by Natasha Walter

A double life is no life at all.

Since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, Laura Leverett has been living in limbo with her daughter in Geneva. All others see is her conventional, charming exterior; nobody guesses the secret she is carrying.

Her double life began years ago, when she stepped on to the boat which carried her across the Atlantic in 1939. Eager to learn, and eager to love, she found herself suddenly inspired by a young Communist woman she met on the boat. In London she begins to move between two different worlds – from the urbane society of her cousins and their upper class friends, to the anger of those who want to forge a new society. One night at a party she meets a man who seems to her to combine both worlds, but who is hiding a secret bigger than she could ever imagine.

Impelled by desire, she finds herself caught up in his hidden life. Love grows, but so do fear and danger. This is the warm-blooded story of the Cold War. The story of a wife whose part will take her from London in the Blitz, to Washington at the height of McCarthyism, to the possible haven of the English countryside. Gradually she learns what is at stake for herself, her husband, and her daughter; gradually she realises the dark consequences of her youthful idealism.

Sweeping and exhilarating, alive with passion and betrayal, A Quiet Life is the first novel from a brilliant new voice in British fiction.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, Mystery, Historical Mystery, Family, Book Club

442 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2016

About the author

British feminist writer and human rights activist. She is the author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism (2010, Virago) and The New Feminism (1998, Virago), and is the director of Women for Refugee Women.
Her father was Nicolas Walter, an anarchist and secular humanist writer; her grandfather was William Grey Walter, a neuroscientist. After attending North London Collegiate School, she read English at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a double First, and then won a Frank Knox Fellowship to Harvard.Her first job was at Vogue magazine, she then became Deputy Literary Editor of The Independent and then a columnist for The Guardian. She went on to write for many publications and to appear regularly on BBC2's Newsnight Review and Radio 4's Front Row. In 1999 she was a judge on the Booker Prize.

Walter is the founder and director of the charity Women for Refugee Women which campaigns for the rights of women who seek asylum. In 2008 Women for Refugee Women produced the play Motherland which Natasha Walter wrote based on the experiences of women and children in immigration detention. It was directed by Juliet Stevenson and performed at the Young Vic in 2008 by Juliet Stevenson, Harriet Walter and others. Women for Refugee Women subsequently worked in partnership with other organisations to campaign for the end to the detention of children for immigration purposes in the UK, a policy which the government announced it would end in 2010.

She is the author of The New Feminism, which was an influential feminist book published by Virago in 1998. Her book Living Dolls, also published by Virago, looks at the resurgence of sexism in contemporary culture. Natasha Walter says, "I once believed that we only had to put in place the conditions for equality for the remnants of old-fashioned sexism in our culture to wither away. I am ready to admit that I was wrong."

Natasha Walter lives in London with her partner and their two children.
/source:Wikipedia/

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has written a detailed historical story about double lives and spying. Clearly a lot of meticulous research has gone into it and it draws on a number of real life cases. In 1939, Laura moves to England from the United States. Over time, she acquires a secretive life and she has the perfect character to do so. She is a buttoned down personality who easily takes on the layers of secrecy required. It is a well plotted novel that has exquisite descriptions. You get a real feel of the fear that real life spies must have felt. A great and suspenseful read. Many thanks to the Borough Press for an ARC.

[Eric Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised and intrigued to see that the feminist and humanitarian Natasha Walter who previously only wrote nonfiction has published her first novel. The blurb for “A Quiet Life” explains how it's about a female spy during WWII and I wasn’t sure how a thrilling plot like this would work alongside the author’s compelling ideas about feminism. As it turns out, the main character Laura is not a feminist or especially an intellectual. She doesn’t become a political subversive and spy delivering crucial government secrets to an underground communist network for the Soviet Union because she has particularly high ideals. Rather, she takes on this highly dangerous and controversial work because she’s influenced by a passionate female friend and a man she falls in love with. However, the way in which Walter captures the subtlety of Laura’s psychology, the prevailing ideologies/social attitudes of the era and the crisis of an individual’s political consciousness during times of international conflict is absolutely compelling. It makes Laura a more dynamic subject and her story more engagingly complex than if Walter had chosen to write a whole novel about Florence, Laura’s ardent communist friend. Reading “A Quiet Life” felt to me like reading a novel by Doris Lessing for the way it wholly commits to faithfully representing Laura’s experience in times of political turbulence.

Read my full review of A Quiet Life by Natasha Walter on LonesomeReader

[Marian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

The attempted integration of a narrative heavy on espionage, wartime romance, and marital strife with the predominant theme, social constraints on women in the mid-20th century, doesn't work well here. Perhaps Walter, author of two quite successful books on feminism, was overly concerned about being too discursive or didactic in addressing her concerns. With the upshot being that she kits out the story in a lot of cliched material, loses sight of character development, and buries her terrific insights in a baggy narrative. Frustrating.

[N · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPIES, amirite? It's all poison-tipped umbrellas and silly wigs! Er, well...

A Quiet Life is a more subtle portrayal of mid-20th-century spying, focusing on the psychological toll of secrecy and the everyday social manipulations that, I imagine, were the reality for most Soviet spies in the West.

It was these social manipulations that I loved most within the novel: the small changes in personality that protagonist and spy Laura would use to exert information from people. Haven't we all wondered how others see us? This is the question that preoccupies Laura, and it's fascinating how she's able to change the perceptions of her so-called 'friends', convincing them she's an airhead and therefore too stupid to bother being cautious around.

Quiet is also an interesting portrait of wartime London -- a grey city, strangely muted despite all the turmoil -- and the upper-class set who see WW2 as either an incovenience or a chance for valour.

That's what's good about Quiet. What's bad is how stultifying it is most of the time.

Listen, literary realism is not my favourite genre, but I can appreciate the way that, say, Tessa Hadley imbues the everyday with meaning.

But Quiet isn't just a quiet story; it's a boring one.

Personally, I think the seeds of this are in first-novel-itis. Laura is a damp squib of a protagonist. Passive and prickly, she seems to have little inner life, and her dour demeanour makes her an unpleasant person to spend time with over the course of the novel.

Despite being tightly focused on Laura, the POV keeps her at arm's length. As a result, there's little emotion evoked. The decision to render 75% of the dialogue as reported speech is verging on bizarre and, again, serves to push the reader away, rather than draw her into the thick of the narrative.

There's a hedging quality to the prose that's, frankly, cringey. Filter words ('she felt', 'she realised', 'she started to') weigh down the sentences. Worst of all, the author never commits to a damn thing. Run a search and you'd find the phrases 'seemed to' and 'seemed almost to' number hundreds if not thousands. (I realise this is granular stuff that few readers would pinpoint, but it really does affect the narrative in a negative way.)

This is the type of novel that wears its boringness like a badge of honour, as if 'real' readers don't go in for cheap thrills. Yet subtlety doesn't have to be boring; drama can be drawn out of the everyday. I bristle at the way Natasha Walter has been compared to Curtis Sittenfeld, because Sittenfeld at her best makes the mundane feel momentus. Walter never comes close.

Despite its inherant dullness, I did find Quiet absorbing in places, but it was also incredibly irritating in places. It's the type of book where you always know what the weather is doing and you never know how the characters are feeling.

[Annette · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far the first 50 pages are disappointing. Slow and overly descriptive, a polemical agenda clearly being pushed, not hugely atmospheric of the time nor is there much narrative tension and the characterisation of Laura feels a bit weak. I'm beginning to skim read already. Lovely cover though.

I will keep trying for a while longer mainly because I read a review somewhere that it begins to pick up later on, hope it does soon.

I'm up to page 87 and struggling to keep up with so many characters. Ok Laura, not too difficult though she's still nondescript. Mother. Then Florence, Masie, Amy, Joe, Aunt Dee, Giles, Winifred, Ellen, Cissie, Elsa, Miss Spark, Alistair, Mrs Venn, Quentin, Mrs Bertrand, Sybil, Nick, Edward. Oh shit I forgot Nina! Then this line made me laugh out loud: 'at this first meeting she could only see the set of friends as one cawing mass.' Indeed. Soldiering on though...

This is not suceeding either as a spy thriller or as literary fiction. It's more like Call The Midwife but with an unconvincing female character. Nice cover though. Did I say that already?

A great idea thrown away.

I've crawled past the 100 page mark. More tedious and thinly disguised rubbish and endless BORING domestic detail that is toe curling. Nothing happens. Endless, endless reported speech, reported action. FOR GOD'S SAKE WRITE SOME DIALOGUE, SOME SCENES!!!!! It won't hurt or be less literary. When is this spy story actually going to start or any story for that matter?

Ok. Around about page 120 it picks up in fact I've stopped skimming and am now paying attention. The real start of the book. If this sustains I may upgrade to 3 stars - we'll see.

It is improving and so I'm upgrading to 3 stars. I'm genuinely interested though still cautious.

No, it's really boring again - dull cliche scenes of WW2 & English upper classes (such crashing bores darling) plot meandering & uninteresting, characterisation very weak. Just not worth the bother. As I said earlier an opportunity missed by a country mile.

How has this writer done it? Managed to make a novel about spying to be so fucking boring. Laura's life is empty - or wait is that the point. Terrible. Downgrading this to one star.

[Rob Adey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious Eric Ambler-meets-Curtis Sittenfeld thing, with all the difficult bits spy novels miss out (motherhood, emotions other than tense) plus all the difficult bits non-spy novels miss out (spying).

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

... she has been cleverer than all of them, she thinks to herself. No one suspects her. Valance even thinks that she will work for him, if he needs her. Even Mother, even Ellen, even Winifred; nobody thinks that she was anything but an innocent wife. Her mask has been a good one. Has her face stayed intact behind it?

Based on the life of Melinda Marling, the wife of Donald McLean, A Quiet Life tells the story of Laura Leverett who travels from America to London just before the outbreak of the Second World War. On board ship she meets some Communists, including the charismatic Florence: in London she pretends to her relatives that she has a secret boyfriend, so as to slip out to Party meetings. Then she meets Edward, a sophisticated chap who works at the Foreign Office: he turns out to be a spy. They marry. Now Laura is a spy too. Edward and Laura go to Washington after the war: then Edward's double life is uncovered, they return to England, and Edward flees his house in Surrey and his pregnant wife.

This could have been so much better than it was. Laura seems to have little personality and no real direction. She overhears various damning comments about herself but, if she's upset or angry, we don't see it. She is also oblivious to her husband's homosexuality, and to her own romantic / sexual impulses towards Florence and other women of her acquaintance. Which is not to say that Edward and Laura have a platonic relationship: on the contrary, sex is the glue that holds them together, though it is presented in a transactional way: did they both climax? Did they climax together?

Walter may have heard the axiom 'show, don't tell' but she is having none of it. Far too many conversations are summarised, rather than given in full: "in their comments on her, which moved from the admiring to the moralising, they hinted at their own desires. After that the conversation led on to other things, but they felt more warmly now towards one another..." This technique makes Laura feel more distant. I don't know how much of her behaviour is in service of the mask she must present, the pretty silly American wife: but there doesn't seem to be anything much behind the mask. True, there's a secret that she's kept since her teenaged years: I'm not sure if the nature of this secret was ever indicated, though I suspect it is something to do with her family, from whom she attempts to distance herself throughout the novel. Only once abandoned by Edward is she forced to accept that her mother's fidelity is in fact love: it's not clear whether Laura reciprocates at all.

I did like the descriptions of wartime London -- and there are occasional flashes of excellence, like the description of London seen from a fast car 'rolling past the windows with a kind of emphatic repleteness'. On the whole, though, I would rather have read an actual biography.

I may have missed something: much more positive review

[Jan Notzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this novel to be a definite page-turner. The characters were interesting, the action engrossing. There were many things I liked about it: one, the author tells the story without judgment or taking sides; two, I found it intriguing that violence and abuse in the protagonist's history was vaguely hinted at without being explicitly stated or described. It struck me as a look into the life of someone (like spies, undercover operators, et. al.) who has to live a lie and the terrible toll it can take.
The only thing I would ask for is a little (a lot?) more of the characters' thinking and inner dialogue. Written in the third person, it lends itself naturally to that. Would that have taken away from the compelling force of the narrative? Good question.

[Annette Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the cover of this book but unfortunately the story did not live up to expectations. The story was very slow, with far too many domestic details and very little of the spying. A real disappointment.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating view on early 20th century history. Compelling voice and so fluidly written.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read either of Natasha Walker's non-fiction books, but her articles are pertinent, concise and incisive, so it was a disappointment that her debut novel is none of those things. It is the story of a woman caught up in espionage and left-wing politics from 1939 to 1953 and the effect of keeping parts of her life secret. Everyone assumes Laura is an innocent dupe, unable to understand what is going on; she isn't.
From Laura's first arrival at no identifiable UK port (the closest perhaps being Tilbury before 1930, although the S S Normandie does not appear to have ever docked there), through the Second World War and the Cold War, the background of the book is all vague. We don't learn anyone's political motivation, very little about any government or party policy and how it changed, or what effect any espionage or counter-espionage had on any of that. I understand that none of that wider picture is the point of the book, this is the story of Laura's inner life contrasted with her quiet outer one and the author covers this well, but the book is long-winded and dull without that context.

[Bookread2day · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know that the first novel by Natasha Walter, was seminal non-fiction The New Feminism and Living Dolls.

A Quiet Life is Natasha Walter's first novel that is a beautiful work of fiction.

The story is about Laura Leverett Since the disappearance of her husband in 1951, Laura has been living in limbo with her daughter in Geneva. People see her as a very charming young lady, but nobody guesses that secret she is carrying. Laura is a wife, Mother and spy.

I find it fascinating to read what inspires an author to write their novel. Natasha Walter was inspired by some aspects to write this novel by the life of Melinda Marling, the wife of Donald Maclean. As such it stands on the shoulders of a number of books about the Cambridge spies and occasionally borrows directly from the historical record, particularly around Donald's defection in 1951, when he left the family house with his friend and fellow spy leaving behind his pregnant wife, Melinda.

As I enjoyed reading this fiction book so very much, I do hope that the next book Natasha Walter's writes is a work fiction.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. At first I found it rather flat with a very two-dimensional main protagonist - for example we are not given any insight into why she became attracted to communism in the first place - but as it went on, it developed into a picture of what living a double life does to your soul and to every relationship you make. Even though we see the characters from the outside only, we can feel the tension at particularly tricky moments, and feel the edginess of the class barriers. It is an interesting feat of imagination, given that there is no evidence that the real-life character on whom Laura is based ever engaged in any practical spionage. For those of us who grew up against the background of the Cambridge spy circle and the defections of some of its members, this is an interesting fictional addition to the picture - we all know about the men, but what about their wives and families?

[Edel Waugh Salisbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about a woman called Laura who moves to England. While living here she finds herself moving in different circles then she is used to and following an unusual path in life. A secret one.
Laura is a hard character to understand , she does not give away much about how she feels and is almost emotionless , making her perfect in some ways for some of the things she does. Her relationships seem more functional then anything else and her mannor is cool. The story is interesting , the discription of Laura at that time in history is believable and the ending was very satisfying . I recommend this to all fans of books about war time told from an unusual perspective .

I received this book from review from the lovely people over at Lovereading.co.uk

[Linda Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura, you can feel her falling down the rabbit hole, getting deeper into trouble without ever realising how far she’s gone. Action is slow but develops at a measured pace, nice development speed, good scene painting, character development of Laura and Edward. You feel nervous for her… does she understand what trouble she might be letting herself in for?
It's not a fast action paced book, checking I was surprised to see that it was written this year, 2016. The writing style made me assume it was written many years ago. The action slows down in the middle, rather dragged out, but the focus is on character rather than action and it was an enjoyable read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I picked this one up because I liked the retro camera on the front. I know, but I'm a sucker for retro cameras. It wasn't really much about photography unsurprisingly, (never judge...) and I found it difficult to get into until about the third chapter. By the end I became quite fascinated with the 'Cambridge Spies' as a concept, especially as there was a BBC4 programme focussing on them the night after I finished the book, but struggled with the idea that anyone would think it was good to sell their country's secrets to the enemy for the reasons laid out in the book. Frustrating.

[Andy Moss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being inspired by real events you could make a case that this is trying to be realistic rather than fast moving, but it doesn't change the fact the plot is pretty dull and intermittent. The main character never really amounts to much in grabbing the attention and most of the periphery characters seem very interchangeable. It seems that spies did actually go into shops and ask for obscure cigar brands as secret code, so that was fun.

[Chloë Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jolly good. All the spy malarkey is a bit of a red herring. Yes, it's a point of plot (and a substantial one) but it's not the only interesting thing. I loved her unpicking of womany-ness and her ability to write period fiction without being remotely laboured about it. Not a jolly air raid warden in sight. A fabulous slice of history. Much enjoyed.

[El]

Why Fiction Needs More Female Spies, Guardian article.

Somewhat-side note: I would shit myself in happiness if Gillian Anderson is the next Bond.

[Justin Sarginson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel captivated me from the start. The picture it paints of World War 2 and the subsequent Cold War, told from a strong female viewpoint is spellbinding. The intrigue never lets up, encapsulating such love and deceit in equal quantities that it dazzles with how splendidly it is told.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about spies, communism and romance, this book was really boring and nothing really happened...

[Afterwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far the first 50 pages are disappointing. Slow and overly descriptive, a polemical agenda clearly being pushed, not hugely atmospheric of the time nor is there much narrative tension and the characterisation of Laura feels a bit weak. I'm beginning to skim read already. Lovely cover though.

I will keep trying for a while longer mainly because I read a review somewhere that it begins to pick up later on, hope it does soon.

I'm up to page 87 and struggling to keep up with so many characters. Ok Laura, not too difficult though she's still nondescript. Mother. Then Florence, Masie, Amy, Joe, Aunt Dee, Giles, Winifred, Ellen, Cissie, Elsa, Miss Spark, Alistair, Mrs Venn, Quentin, Mrs Bertrand, Sybil, Nick, Edward. Oh shit I forgot Nina! Then this line made me laugh out loud: 'at this first meeting she could only see the set of friends as one cawing mass.' Indeed. Soldiering on though...

This is not suceeding either as a spy thriller or as literary fiction. It's more like Call The Midwife but with an unconvincing female character. Nice cover though. Did I say that already?

A great idea thrown away.

I've crawled past the 100 page mark. More tedious and thinly disguised rubbish and endless BORING domestic detail that is toe curling. Nothing happens. Endless, endless reported speech, reported action. FOR GOD'S SAKE WRITE SOME DIALOGUE, SOME SCENES!!!!! It won't hurt or be less literary. When is this spy story actually going to start or any story for that matter?

Ok. Around about page 120 it picks up in fact I've stopped skimming and am now paying attention. The real start of the book. If this sustains I may upgrade to 3 stars - we'll see.

It is improving and so I'm upgrading to 3 stars. I'm genuinely interested though still cautious.

No, it's really boring again - dull cliche scenes of WW2 & English upper classes (such crashing bores darling) plot meandering & uninteresting, characterisation very weak. Just not worth the bother. As I said earlier an opportunity missed by a country mile.

How has this writer done it? Managed to make a novel about spying to be so fucking boring. Laura's life is empty - or wait is that the point. Terrible. Downgrading this to one star.

[Duong Thuy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidently saw this book on a day I went to bookshop with my kids. I haven't heard or read any review about this book before, but it attracted me by the nice cover. However, it tooks me more than four months to complete reading. It's not because of the language (I'm not an English-speaking native), but because of the dullness and shortage of dialogue throught out the book. I lost my patience after first 50 pages, then turned to another book and came back just because I wanted to complete my own challenge that all the books I bought must be read fully.
Laura, the main protagonist is an innocence girl, who had dream when travelling from US to UK at her seventeen. But there is nothing specticular about her life/her work/her marriage, even her motherhood. The lengthy narrative makes me sleepy. The end of the book also makes me disappointed.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent and engaging fiction inspired (partly) by Melinda Maclean - wife of the Cambridge spy Donald Maclean. While motivated by political idealism, she is entangled into the world of spying for Communist Russia during the war by her relationship but over time the secrecy and lies this imposes upon the couple is emotionally crushing, distancing them from others and each other. It portrays with candour her growing exploration and understanding of where women can and do fit into the world, forever a little outside & as appendages to the inner circus. Walter's essay about the importance of the much overlooked women in the Cambridge Spy circle is a good balance too: https://www.theguardian.com/theguardi...

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fictionalised episode in a most fascinating period in history. War, spies, secrets, lies it should have been compelling in the hands of such a great non fiction writer. 1940s and 1950s "traitors" at the heart of government. In my opinion, it wasn't. It was so muted, that the text positively stagnated. Whilst I understand the need for poker face exteriors, the whole novel barely registered any activity on the political or emotional scale.

The characters were one dimensional.
It was endless narrative with endless reported speech.
The sex scenes were cringe-worthy
No tension generated in the laconic style

I gave up reading twice, but the subject matter made me think there would be a style/temp change, which never came.

I was disappointed

[jane horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking and compelling. This was a different take on a post war spy novel, the main characters being Soviet spys. There was enough historical detail to make the story credible and the characters were all well drawn. I was intrigued by Laura's attraction to Communism - the assumption is that she was a political idealist, but was she really just the apolitical socialite her peers recognized? Her initial interest in politics was because she loved Florence (platonic), her enduring interest was because she loved Edward. This was a excellently crafted and memorable read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well crafted story of a young 19-year-old old American woman who, in 1939, boards a ship to visit and stay with her aunt in london. Laura meets on the boat Florence, a strident communist and in London, she quickly finds herself absorbed in political meetings.
What follows (according to the afterword) is a novel loosely inspired by the life Melinda Maring , the wife of Donald Maclean , as Laura meets her husband and they become absorbed in a world of espionage. A long train journey allowed me to absorb myself in this intricately plotted novel.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is great. I liked reading about the spy as a interior family motif; the spy is not flash, not daring, but a silent thief, worrying constantly. The dilmena of the heroine becomes more clear as we get to the end. But the novel lacks great writing; the author seems very interested with body language and describing accents. I found the writing not so good in many places. Yet the story pulled me through.

[Robert The Chalmers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most riveting story

The story is told from the beginning as though one is living the story personally. It contains such insight that it’s almost easy to forget that the story is a work of fiction, especially when the reader is old enough to remember the actual events and times.
It moves at a steady and considered pace, and is never a spy/thriller genre story, but the personal journey of the protagonist.

[Alma (retirement at last) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this really heavy going even though I could see that it told of how the war changed all social mores and indoctrinated many naive people into the perfect equable world of communism.
I really cannot read about the shallow world of the wealthy for any length of time and the mundane day to day lived they lead.