The Elusive Madame G - a life of Christine Granville (Paperback)

CHRISTINE GRANVILLE was one of the most courageous British agents to emerge from the second world war. Winner of Britain's most prestigious awards, Christine was actually born in pre-war Poland, living a carefree life of privilege, the daughter of a feckless count who was frequently absent from her life. He did appear now and then, long enough to teach her to ride. Her have-a-go attitude toward life and her natural beauty attracted a bevy of admirers, one of whom married her before the war. CHRISTINE however was not satisfied with being the wife of a wealthy man and found herself divorced before the war. A second marriage ended in the same manner. Free and with no ties CHRISTINE quickly bought into Warsaw's revived social life and it was in that over-heated milieu that she met the British journalist and covert agent who recruited her for the secret service. CHRISTINE and her second husband were enjoying a honeymoon in Africa when the Germans invaded Poland. Unable to return to her homeland the couple fled to England. There she was reunited with that journalist-agent. By early 1940 CHRISTINE found herself in Budapest posing as a travel writer. Her true mission was to enter occupied Poland and gather as much intelligence as she could. To do this she made the arduous trek across the Tatra mountains, braved furious snow- storms, narrowly escaped Nazi agents and finally made it to Warsaw. There she connected with a renegade outfit calling themselves the Musketeers. They began a 2-year association gathering information about the Germans which CHRISTINE then smuggled across the mountains on her return to Budapest. CHRISTINE'S role with the Musketeers ended when she and her lover Andrew Kennedy were arrested by the Hungarian secret police. By feigning a consumptive illness she tricked her captors in to releasing her and Andrew. Budapest was no longer safe for them and so began the long trip to Cairo. Rumors that she was a German spy reached Cairo before she did and she was summarily dismissed from the secret service. Two years passed before she was cleared of all charges. Preparations began to drop her into France where she was to become deputy to the head of the Jockey Circuit. But shortly after arriving in France, Francis Cammaerts, Jockey's leader, was arrested by the Gestapo. CHRISTINE then took charge of matters. She brazenly walked into the German prison, declared herself to be a British agent and began negotiating for Cammaerts' release. She was so convincing that the prison warden not only released Cammaerts but left his post with his prisoners. With the Allies steaming across Europe in 1944 spies were no longer needed in France. CHRISTINE returned to London where she floated through a series of menial jobs, looking forward to an uncertain future. She did find a job that appealed to her but it came with a high price. A man she befriended aboard a cruise ship fell passionately in love with CHRISTINE. She could not return his affection and when his erratic behavior became threatening she decided to leave England. Fate intervened however. Before she could manage her escape the frustrated lover appeared at her hotel and after a brier argument, stabbed her to death. CHRISTINE died in the hotel lobby on June 15, 1952, age 44.