Cast No Shadow

by Mary S. Lovell

The Legend of Betty Pack is simple enough. She was a beautiful American spy recruited first by the British Secret Intelligence Service in 1938 and later by the American OSS. Her method of obtaining information was seduction. In Cast No Shadow, Mary Lovell, author of Straight On Till Morning, the internationally acclaimed and best-selling biography of Beryl Markham, gives us for the first time the complete story behind the legend of this modern-day Mata Hari, a story more astounding than the legend. Betty Pack's milieu was the aristocratic world of international diplomatic society. The wife of a career British diplomat--the marriage for both partners had quickly become an arrangement of convenience, not passion--Betty would be witness to and participant in many of the most intense historic moments of the twentieth in civil war-torn Madrid, besieged Warsaw, occupied Paris, wartime Washington. In each locale, Betty's entree into diplomatic circles and her own penchant for seeking out men at the center of conflict made her a spy whose love of adventure was matched only by her talent for uncovering the enemy's secrets. Betty often knew what information her spymasters wanted; more important, she knew whom to approach and seduce in order to obtain it. Relying on top-secret and heretofore unrevealed documents from British Intelligence as well as on Betty's own memoir written shortly before her death, Mary Lovell offers a remarkable portrait of a woman whose adeptness for intrigue in affairs of espionage and passion is astonishing. Cast No Shadow is a story of subterfuge and romantic expediency that exposes the hidden human intrigue of World War II and the life of a woman whose contribution to the Allied effort was invaluable and unique.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Biography Memoir, Womens Studies

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Mary was an accountant and company director for 20 years before becoming a writer. She wrote her first book in 1981 at the age of 40, while recovering from a broken back which was the result of a riding accident. She returned to accountancy but during the following 5 years she also published two further non-fiction books that were written in her spare time.

She lives in the New Forest in Hampshire, England.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, although it starts in a little dry manner which gradually "grows on you".

A lonely, strong-willed, beautiful girl follows her father in his military career assignments. Her mother is too rigid, too well-mannered, and generally not a very warm person. Her father is wrapped up in his career. She is well-raised, inquisitive, sensitive, intuitive, smart and secretive - did I say beautiful, again? Outwardly, she loves people; but no one penetrates her mind and soul.

She marries very early and becomes a wife of a career diplomat, 20 years her senior. She experiences a feeling of suffocation within a small embassy community in Chile, and is married only in appearance. After her husband is transferred to Spain, she finds herself in the middle of civil war, bravely and undiplomatically takes sides, and lives her life to the fullest.

Having been transferred to pre-WWII Poland, she takes on the secretive work with BSC. (G-d only knows how the research for this book was done, how many archival dust was raised and how many permissions were given with the promise *not to disclose*).

She falls in love with her *marks* (the men she is supposed to "turn" or get some secrets from), but remains faithful only to her employers. She lives to the fullest and never looks back. She marries her last *mark*, a French diplomat, and retires with him to a French chateau. Her memoirs would probably make the most interesting reading, but it is not clear if they were ever published as a book. She dies rather early of cancer, having fought and lost her fight, being optimistic to the end.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting American female spy who actually worked for the Brits. Churchill believed that any means necessary could be taken in an effort to win the war. Betty, our protagonist, took him literally. You might call her promiscuous, but the author calls her needy and probably serially in love with most of her targets. Whatever it was, she was pretty darn successful.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women have taken active parts in war efforts throughout time. Some as reporters such as Martha Gellhorn and Dickey Chapelle or photographers like Lee Miller and Catherine Leroy. A number have been doctors and nurses. Several cross-dressed to fight as soldiers or sailors. Many were spies like Harriet Tubman, Mata Hari and Rosie O'Neal Greenhow. Born to a career military officer and a Washington socialite Betty Pack Thorpe grew up well versed in worldly affairts. She was an attractive, intelligent woman who married a British diplomat much older than herself. She volunteered and subsequently was recruited by British Intelligence. During WW II she worked for both the British SIS and the American OSS. It is a fascinating read one should have on their Women's Studies and/or Espionage book shelves. The book's appendix is a brief history of Sir William Stephenson and British Security Coordination.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what I liked least, the writing or the subject. I picked this one up because I loved the last female spy biography I read. The writer introduced so many many characters and people, some of whom we were expected to know that I couldn't keep anybody straight. Betty, the person the book was about was a selfish, spoiled, rotten person who was only "serving her country" for excitement. She abandoned her children, drove her husband to suicide, slept with anybody who walked past her. Maybe if she was a more likable character I wouldn't have been annoyed with the whole book. I did finish it though, because I wanted to see how the war ended....

[Jerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alright, more of a history book than a story

[Sarah Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating biography reveals the life of Betty Pack, a beautiful American diplomat's wife who was recruited by the British Secret Intelligence Service in 1938 and later by the American OSS. In pursuit of information, Betty used her tremendous sex appeal and charisma to seduce her targets, who then willingly gave her what inside information she wanted.

In Lovell's writing, Betty Pack emerges as a highly complicated individual. A rather dreadful mother, one of her children was raised by a foster mother and the other largely by servants in the household of her estranged husband. She clearly had a broad take on fidelity. Even long after falling out of love with her husband and moving on to other lovers, she still had her own brand of loyalty to him and was devoted to helping him pursue his career goals. Even when in love with other men, she seemed to feel no compunction about sleeping with targets in the pursuit of information and explained that saving British and American lives was worth it. Or as Lovell describes it, "Betty would enjoy an extra-curricular affair outside her main emotional relationship" (38). Cool under pressure, she demonstrated her willingness to risk her life many times over.

I found Betty's story and her role in obtaining secret information absolutely fascinating. It was at times hard to keep up with which man she was in love with or in a relationship with, because it seemed to be constantly fluctuating. But by far the most baffling part of Betty's story was her son, who was clearly conceived before she and her husband's marriage. It seems his untimely birth four months too soon after their marriage was found to be an embarrassment to her husband's career. This, coupled with his suspicions that he may not be the baby's father, led to the baby being placed with a foster family in England at just ten day sold. Betty and her husband kept the existence of their son secret from most everyone for years and rarely visited or even wrote the boy. Even after the Packs welcomed a daughter some years later, they still kept their son hidden.

Betty's life reads like a movie script. Her bravery, and at times risky behavior in pursuit of behind the scenes information, allowed her to become "one of the most successful women spies of World War II" (3). Even after the war, her life seems glamorous. During the war, Betty fell in love with one of her targets, Charles Brousse. He ended up divorcing his wife and bought Chateau Castellnou for her in 1946. Although he was much older and Betty grew restless at home with an elderly spouse, it still presents as quite a fairy tale conclusion. Before her death of cancer, Betty was interviewed about her experiences and wrote a memoir about her life, both of which were used as sources by Mary Lovell. I found this to be a well researched, interesting biography about an interesting part of the war work and especially since it was about a woman's role.

[C.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Remarkable Woman

Intelligent, charming, and beautiful, Betty Pack was a woman who history should certainly remember, though her name is largely unknown by most readers. As one of WWII’s most successful spies, she charmed state secrets from a series of European diplomats by any means possible – seduction included. Born to privilege to American parents as Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, Betty Pack married a British diplomat whose embassy connections, coupled with her ability to speak several languages, permitted her access to men with valuable information for the Allied war efforts. However, Pack has the unfortunate habit of falling in love with these very same men. Cast No Shadow by Mary S. Lovell is this intrepid and reckless woman’s biography.

The biography is meticulously researched. Lovell unpacks Pack’s incredibly eventful life (pun intended) with a thoroughness that impresses. The author not only uses secondary resources but also incorporates primary ones, such as diary entries and interviews, which give us an intimate look at Pack’s life and her motivation to risk her life time and time again for the Allied cause. The extensive sources, acknowledgements, notes, and indexes also indicate Lovell’s scholarly approach to her subject. Still, that approach, while impressive, often overwhelmed me with the particulars of WWII spy tactics and maneuvers in Europe. However, Betty Pack herself fascinated me. I have always enjoyed reading about difficult women who defy conventions and dare to challenge the traditional roles that stifle women even today. I can only hope such remarkable women continue to inspire both readers and authors for years to come.

[Larry Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh boy. How do tell the story of one of most daring spies of World War II? Well, Mary Lovell constructed a chronological record that unfortunately is full of extraneous irrelevant details. Here are a couple of examples. Mary and her diplomat husband choose lodging in Spain. Then we are forced to endure details of how she decorated it. Later on, she engages in a daring raid to remove documents from a safe. It’s really quite good. Then, the author needlessly provides the combination to the safe. I wanted to love this book. In fact, I could not finish it. Too bad. There is a good story to be told here, but this isn’t it.

[Nancy Cook-senn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elizabeth “Betty” Thorpe Pack was a very interesting woman who had many affairs with men of international importance and funneled information to the British and American intelligence community in the 1930s-40s. This is a really dull book about her.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

List of sources and a list of books on women in espionage, '40's - '80's.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betty Pack was a spy in WWII. Her story is a fun read.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly enjoyed reading about a female spy and her affect on the outcome of WWII

[Kristine Bagnara · Rating 4 out of 5]

about a beautiful American WWII spy named Betty Puck -- amazing what she helped accomplish, mostly working with the British