Conspiracy of Lies
by Kathryn Gauci
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Pub Date Jul 12 2017 | Archive Date Feb 11 2019
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Description
From the author of The Embroiderer comes a powerful account of one woman’s struggle to balance her duty to her country and a love she knows will ultimately end in tragedy.
1940. With the Germans about to enter Paris, Claire Bouchard flees France for England. Two years later she is recruited by the Special Operations Executive and sent back into occupied France to work alongside the Resistance.
Working undercover as a teacher in Brittany, Claire accidentally befriends the wife of the German Commandant of Rennes and the blossoming friendship is about to become a dangerous mission. Knowing that thousands of lives depended on her actions, Claire begins a double life as a Gestapo Commandant’s mistress in order to retrieve vital information for the Allied invasion of France, but ghosts from her past make the deception more painful than she could have imagined.
Part historical, part romance and part thriller, Conspiracy of Lies takes us on a journey through occupied France, from the picturesque villages of rural Brittany to the glittering dinner parties of the Nazi elite, in a story of courage, heartbreak and secrecy.
Advance Praise
Gripping and charismatic
Both convincing and gripping, this is a book to make you think, make you wonder, make you shiver, and make you dream. The details of the French Resistance are excellently researched, and really come alive, with sufficient detail to bring a vivid and exciting picture to mind. The writing races, rushing you along with the action and the desperate hopes of the characters. These are well drawn characters, each extremely individual, and the heroine is a personality that enters your heart. The villains are equally charismatic, and it is this which perhaps makes the story line even more attractive.
The love story is both unusual and mesmerizing, and I quickly felt involved myself, with a myriad of worries and hopes about how it would all end.
France in wartime is presented with a haunting realism that kept me reading on, unable to put the book down until the end. There are passages which make you feel as though danger is on your own doorstep, and some details are horrific. But all this brings the book wonderfully alive, and I strongly recommend it.
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A Discovered Diamond
This book has received a Discovering Diamonds Review:
Helen Hollick
founder #DDRevs
"I closed my Kindle with reluctance each evening and found it was after midnight each time. Beware, this story will grip you."
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5.0 out of 5 stars Inspired
Just when you thought everything had been written about WW2 already, you read a book like this, so inspired and well thought-through.
In 2001 a letter causes Claire Bradshaw to suffer a heart attack. Recently divorced daughter Claire decides not to let sleeping dogs lie and starts investigating Claire's past.
Mother and daughter eventually go on holiday to France together where Claire tells her story within the French resistance from 1939 onwards: Love, torn loyalties, resistance work, lies, cover lies, betrayal and personal sacrifices.
Gauci does a marvellous job at depicting the personal within the context of the wider picture, the immense risks taken by individuals for the greater good, the complexity of the resistance operations and the dangers of that particular area of WW2 (Brittany).
Plenty of fascinating historical facts and family dramas are woven into this complex story; a very clever plot that comes to a stunning denouement.
Moving, eye-opening and very impressive.
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Another great story
Conspiracy of Lies amazing spy thriller set in World War 2 France. As I started reading the book I really thought I had the ending figured out but I was actually wrong! The story takes you up and down emotionally. I felt like I was there. The ending was bittersweet and had me thinking about the book all day.
Like her previous book The Embroiderer, Conspiracy of Lies was full of passion, romance and heartbreak. My only regret is that I didn't have time to finish the book sooner. Thank you again for a beautiful story! Can't wait for the next.
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A lot of lies!
This was a very exciting book taking place in WWII, my favorite genre. The story is a good one and kept me going to the end.
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This novel should be made into a film.
Starting this novel, I was not too certain if I could enjoy a story with a SS officer as the love interest. Yet, I did. Very much so. By the end of this novel, all I could think about was the power of love, and the tragedy of love blighted by war.
Claire Bouchard is a wonderful main character – brave, beautiful and fated to be scarred and left broken hearted – as so many young men and women were in these times – by the experience of World War Two. Caught up in the horror of war and utterly in love with a man who should be her enemy, we cannot help feel for her as she decides her true loyalties.
Gauci has written a quintessence English novel. The voice of the story is pitched perfectly and the history well told. I found myself in war torn England, France and Brittany of the 1940's – in the midst of Claire’s powerful and heart touching love story.
Gauci is gifted in creating a sensory world for her reader. She brings you to the table of her characters and set before you a feast of descriptions. I could almost feel the silk of women’s dresses, taste the oysters and champagne, and hear the music playing as men and women danced, as war darkened their world with its promise of grief and despair.
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Award winning B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree
We are proud to announce that CONSPIRACY OF LIES by Kathryn Gauci is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells readers that this book is well worth their time and money!
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Award Winning Read
Conspiracy of Lies by Kathryn Gauci has received a Chill with a Book Readers' Award.
"What a remarkable story of love and courage and bravery. I didn’t want to put it down." "Well written and emotional."
"Excellent story, and obviously took a lot of research, which I appreciate. The plot had me on my toes: I was surprised at every turn, never suspecting the twists and turns."
Pauline Barclay
Founder of Chill with a Book Awards
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9780648123507 |
| PRICE | $5.91 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Makenzie E, Reviewer
Kathryn is such an amazing writer. This was a truly intriguing book and I couldn't put it down. It was so good, took me only 2 hours to soar through it and enjoyed it so much.
Jessica M, Librarian
I've given up on thinking that I don't like romance, because clearly I have been loving it lately - and Conspiracy of Lies was no exception. It starts of with a whirlwind romance in Paris (um hello, beautiful daydream much?) and is followed dramatically by a complete immersion in the SOE and a deployment to occupied France. I mean, oooft! Does it get any better?
I loved the tenacity of Claire Bouchard, and especially the retrospective introduction to the story. We see Claire at the end of her journey sharing moments with her daughter, so we know that she survives. Yet despite this, the events that Claire endures in 1943 had me on the edge of my seat wondering how she makes it through. I seriously doubted that Claire was going to survive her landing in Brittany, ad certainly not her unexpected infiltration of the Nazi elite as she fell into the bed of a Gestapo Commandant.
I enjoyed too, how Claire's past and present were interspersed throughout the book. Her return to Brittany and reconnection with her daughter cut the tension of Claire's mission at the best possible moment. Not only did they provided glimpses of insight into Claire's character, but they also dolled out key clues into the history of the geography in which the story takes place. I found that it really helped to root the narrative in reality, and to make it feel like the past isn't so far away.
And the scenario with the Gestapo Commandant was an absolute trip as well. It really brought to light the degree of subterfuge and infiltration undertaken by members of the SOE and the complicated situations that had to be navigated in the aftermath of the war. And keeping in mind the secrecy to which SOE agents were sworn, I can only imagine how shocking discovering the truth of a parent or grandparent's real past might have been.
Yet, the magnitude of this drama was subtly balanced by the opulence of the Nazi elite. The dresses, the hotels, the parties and the food in the face of such drastic austerity was almost overwhelming. And once Claire was embedded in this world, I couldn't shake the feeling of Stockholm Syndrome despite Claire's obvious commitment to the SOE. The depth of detail provided a sense a grounding and realism that made every scenario believable, and solid foundation on which some extreme events can take place. And the best part was that despite having some knowledge of the French Resistance and the events leading up to the liberation of France, I never once felt that I could guess what was coming around the corner or that I knew an outcome before it came to pass.
This baby is truly the best of both worlds with enough pulling at the heartstrings to give you a flutter, and a riveting game of SOE cat-and-mouse espionage to keep those pages turing. It's detailed, dramatic, and incredibly well written.
Read it book lovers, you won't be disappointed!
John P, Reviewer
"Conspiracy of Lies" eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Kathryn Gauci (http://www.kathryngauci.com). Ms. Gauci has published four novels.
I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in German-occupied France. The primary character is Claire Bouchard, a young French woman who volunteers to return to France as a British agent to work with the French resistance.
Bouchard is still trying to deal with the death of her lover when France is invaded by Germany in 1940. She flees ahead of the German army and makes her way to the UK. She is recruited and trained to be part of the SOE. She is returned to France and becomes a teacher while secretly serving the resistance.
She is faced with many risky situations and becomes romantically involved with both a fellow resistance fighter and with a member of the German Gestapo in her role as a teacher. The story is told by the elderly Bouchard to her daughter in 2001.
I enjoyed the 9+ hours I spent reading this 300-page WWII novel. The story portrays the typical French refugee recruited and sent back to work for with the resistance. This one is more complicated as the primary character develops romantic ties that put her at even greater risk. This is really a story about a strong and heroic woman. While there was more romance in the story that I usually like, I do think that it is a good read. I like the cover are. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
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