Spy by Danielle Steel is an excellent historical fiction novel that introduces us to the intriguing character of Alexandra (Alex) Wickham. It almost reads as a biography of sorts and begins when Alex is a teen growing up with her parents and brothers in Hampshire, England beginning around 1939.
The book proceeds to give us an unraveling of a fascinating life that unfolds for Alex through the years of WWII and her eventual involvement with SOE, her missions and day to day life during that time, as well as the tragedies that take place as well. It also covers her sweet romance and beginnings with RAF squadron leader, Richard, and what would end up being their 54 year marriage.
The “second” part of the book (in my mind) is post-war and the travels, triumphs, and tragedies that Alex experiences while traveling to: India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Soviet Union, and Washington DC as Richard is part of the foreign ambassador office and Alex is part of MI6.
I loved reading about her relationship, her family, and her granddaughters afterwards as well.
I enjoyed Alex, Richard, and her family. It was interesting to have a peak inside what life was like during those volatile years of WWII and post-war/Cold War, and some of the clandestine and “organized” British military endeavors that occurred. I feel as if Alex was an honest, honorable, likable, and truly genuine character, that to me, seemed very real thanks to the imagery that was given by Ms. Steel. Remarkable.
I truly enjoyed the ending and feel as if it came full circle and left the reader with the knowledge that Alex has many more adventures and chapters to write in her life story.

This is a great novel that I did not want to end.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this amazing ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

This is submitted to my GR account immediately and will be posted to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

Thank you to Netgalley, Danielle Steel and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine
for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I found this to be an exciting and just plain heartwarming book about a strong woman.
Loved the historical aspects of it as well.
I was hoping for a little more suspense considering the subject matter and title, but regardless it was
another good one for all especially fans of Danielle.

Alexandria leads a privileged life, when war breaks out. Since both her brothers enlisted , she volunteers , more content to help her country , the marry and settle down.
This starts the journey of Alex. She’s recruited to be a spy and so begins her decades of work.
All while marrying and raising a child and relocating and having a front seat to history in the making !

I am surprised by home much I enjoyed this book. And I definitely recommend it !

This story shows how well Danielle Steel can write. It takes place during World War II and a daughter and girlfriend is a spy for England. She never breaks her silence until her 20 years are up. Great love story and family plot. Again, I fell that as Danielle Steel writes more her stories are becoming much more then fluff pieces from the beginning. Loved the story and would recommend to anyone who like historical fiction.

This book by Danielle Steel is set in WW2, with the main character Alexandra volunteering to help with the war efforts, and eventually being recruited to be a spy. I thought it was very interesting to learn about some of the different missions that were completed to gain intelligence during the war. I could tell that a great deal of research was completed prior to writing this book. The book does follow Alexandra through her entire life, so we learn more about how she kept busy after the war as she started her family. The story line ebbs and flows with excitement connected to her missions.

Danielle Steel is iconic. Women flock to her shelves and eagerly await her latest fiction offering. I read them, but I don't usually enjoy the contemporary ones as much as I like the historical novels. Spy is an historical set amid WW2 and the aftermath. I really enjoyed it. It was a comfortable read that had drama, intrigue, and a nicely wrapped up ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC of this book.

#DanielleSteel is my mother's favorite author so o decided to give this book a try. After all it was historical fiction which is one of my favorite generes.. I wasn't disappointed. Thank you #Netgally for the chance to read this wonderful book.

5 out of 5 bookstacks📚📚📚📚📚

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital version of this book to review!

Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 5
Plot development: 5
Characters: 5
Enjoyability: 5
Ease of Reading: 5

Overall rating: 5 out of 5

Spy is a fantastic historical novel with great characters and storyline. Danielle Steel is a masterful storyteller with a way of making the reader feel a part of the story.

Again, Steel uses her charm offensive to take us through a fascinating tour of the most important events faced by Great Britain since the late 1930’s. The face of this novel is the valiant and remarkable Alex who becomes a SPY for the British government from WWII to the crises of the post-war 20th century.

This is historical fiction lite, but still manages to engage the reader in tales of espionage and bravery. The reality of the casualties of the war are delivered by members of Alex’ family. All this is surrounded by the beautiful and enduring love story of Alex and her husband. She is transported to many of these hotspots because of his diplomatic posts.

I like the closure that is provided, leaving the reader comfortable in the knowledge of the families’ future.

Thank you Netgalley for an enjoyable read.

I’ve honestly never read anything by Danielle Steel, because I associate her with mass market paperback romances from the 1980s. And that’s definitely not in my reader wheelhouse. However, when I saw that her latest novel was historical fiction about a female intelligence agent in World War II, that was so soundly in my reader wheelhouse that it was irrational to ignore it. Not only did I want to read it, I jumped it to the top of my reading queue.

This novel was actually a sweeping family epic rather than a World War II spy novel. Only the first half of the novel (approximately 100 pages) dealt with the heroine’s service in the Special Operations Executive, but the characters and the plot were so well drawn that this section of the novel could have been expanded with more depth into a 250-page novel of its own. The uniqueness of this novel is that it answers the question “What happens to these women after their great wartime adventures?” Again, in the second half of the novel, the author opted for breadth over depth and traced the heroine’s life over two decades of peacetime intelligence service. Each one of the foreign postings could have been a satisfying 250-page novel in its own right, rather than a twenty-something page chapter.

I did love the research and realism that the author brought to bear in this novel. Each historical epoch was well-drawn: from India in the 1940s to the Soviet Union in the 1960s. And the characters were interesting humans; had this been a series of novels, I probably would have read each one to find out what life brings next for Alex and Richard. However, I tend to prefer novels that are intricate microcosms rather than sweeping epics, so the lack of detail and depth was something that I had to adapt to while reading.

This novel has genuinely changed my perception of Danielle Steel novels for the better. I’m pleased to see that there are at least three other Danielle Steel advance reader copies available at this time. None are as soundly in my reader wheelhouse as this current novel; however, I’m definitely interested in exploring more of what she can do.

This was a pretty good Danielle Steel book. I really enjoyed the first half of the book set during WW2 and how woman were used during the war, in this case for “spying “. The second half was ok and I did skim some of the places the characters lived in. Overall a good story that held my interest. I would recommend this book. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.