In 1962 Patrick Marnham was less than thrilled to be given the keys to the family car and sent by his Father to France to learn the language when he had grander ideas. His stay was in a Chateau where the elderly aristocratic owner had tutored well-to-do young people for years,including some famous names. From his initial disappointment Patrick the lady,her glamorous Daughter and their English housekeeper, known to all as Nanny, grow fond of each other and become friends.

As the years pass Patrick learns that the ladies of the Chateau played their part in the local Resistance until the Duchess's network is broken up and she ends up in Ravensburg. Having written a book about Resistance hero Jean Moulin he knew that both were betrayed on the same date and suspected that this might not have been a coincidence. To add some spice to an already fascinating story Patrick receives a . cryptic letter suggesting that there was a lot more to events on that date than might seem apparent.

What follows is a tale of bravery,deception ,treachery,double crosses, and possibly triple crosses as dark forces in the darkest of shadows plot and scheme ,callously playing with the lives of selfless and admirable people .Reading this book actually made me very angry,the callousness and cold-blooded and deliberate actions of the puppet-masters are quite stomach-churning and in the usual spirit of such things details are still censored by our Government .

Patrick Marnham does a great job of explaining the factional feuding between various Resistance , political and Intelligence groups and lifts the scab off of some pretty disgusting actions by certain people,no wonder they went to such lengths to cover the truth....and various British Governments to this day still do.