Loyalty: Secrets

by David Wiltcher

Do we owe ultimate loyalty and allegiance to others or to causes? Why? Kathy, an orphaned and feisty child and young woman, instinctively rebellious, drawn to challenges, a chancer but an idealist, is compelled to confront these issues, making choices and commitments that have major political and personal impacts on herself and others who are drawn to her. The story follows her journey from quiet East Anglia to the growing nightmare of 1930s Berlin, meeting an inspirational agent, then fighting her way out and across Europe to confront new challenges and dangers in wartime and postwar London. Here she discovers her true identity, a name change, and is compelled into an ideological choice of allegiance. These are worlds of dreadful violence and hatreds, of nationalisms and developing Cold War conflicts, of treachery, paranoia and endless intrigue, of secrecy and

deadly ideological rivalries, times of lethal danger.

267 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2017

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for the book.

This gripping book, that makes it hard for one to put it down, starts with Kathy as a child and gives us some background that later helps us to understand the character. From a young age, Kathy (as was the final name given to her by The Sanctuary) identifies herself as 'bolshy' as she was known as that in the orphanage as well. We can also see her obsession with words at the beginning, when she describes the words she looks up and later presents how battered her dictionary is.

She is an exceptional young woman who, due to her childhood's association of herself with the Bolsheviks feels some sympathy for them.
She has a great memory and talent for learning languages, both something that helps her in her future life. She is also very resilient and capable of turning things to her advantage, as well as thinking well on her feet.

Despite some of the horrors that are described in the book, and which one should expect as we know that the story is happening in the time of World War II, it is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in history, in the period, or just wants to read a good book.

[Jessica Macaulay · Rating 5 out of 5]

There isn’t much about this book that I don’t love. After having read a good number of texts lately that have alternating perspectives, following a single character from childhood through to maturity was as refreshing as it was beautifully executed. The mixture of memory and event creates a believable balance and you really get the sense of who Kathy is and why she does what she does. I love her bold, bolshy, attitude and found myself laughing at the spectacle of this precocious girl saying exactly what aggravates the most.

I loved the writing style and found it easy to engage with. The vocabulary was playful and had a beautiful and challenging variety that I haven’t come across often enough. I enjoyed how difficult concepts and words were introduced as it allows for readers to learn alongside Kathy if they are unfamiliar with the concepts, as well as humour, innuendo, and abounding personality and snark. I particularly loved the use of the word ‘bolshy’, the prevalence of dictionaries and definitions (they make my librarian heart sing!), and subtle message that all news should viewed through a critical lens and with constant questioning.