Deborah Lawrenson on The Secretary
What drew you to the Cold War era specifically, 1958 Moscow, as the setting for The Secretary?
Growing up around the world as an embassy child, I was always aware that my parents were living an unusual and interesting life. My parents had met at the British Embassy in Moscow in the late 1950s, and their tales of being tailed by the KGB were part of our family history. The catalyst for setting The Secretary in Moscow in 1958 was the discovery of a diary my late mother Joy had kept that year. For the first time I could make sense of the many stories she had told me by reading them in context. Next thing I knew, I was taking imaginative leaps into the wider known events of the Cold War that year and blending fact and fiction into a novel.
How did you research the role of women in intelligence work during that time?
Almost all my understanding of a young woman’s role in secret work abroad comes from conversations with my mother, her diaries and reading non-fiction accounts of Cold War intelligence, especially around the Cambridge spies, Burgess, Maclean and Philby. Very often they were books she recommended. She was a great curator of fascinating books and had a considerable library of works on the subject. None of which specifically focused on women’s roles, though. The women were there, but mostly between the lines, with honourable exceptions like Jane Archer (née Sissmore), MI5/MI6 officer who flagged up concerns about Kim Philby, and was side-lined for her trouble – by the wily Philby himself.
Are there any real-life historical figures that inspired the character of Lois Vale?
None specifically. The book I would have liked to have been able to consult while writing is Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall’s Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence (2024), but The Secretary was already well into the editing and production stage by the time it was published. I approached it cautiously, wondering if it would prove some of my assumptions wrong, but luckily it was quite the opposite. Her book confirmed many aspects, not least that some of the most powerful unsung heroines, like Kathleen Pettigrew the real-life Miss Moneypenny (“but with more power,” in her own words) were immensely clever and dedicated young women recruited from ordinary backgrounds.
What did you want to highlight about class, gender, and power through the perspective of a bright, working-class woman?
Despite all the advances women had made during two World Wars, the Establishment and the machinery of government in Britain in the 1950s was still by and large a man’s world. However, there were still ways through for intelligent, capable women whose hard work and different perspective made them highly valued in their chosen fields. What I wanted to highlight was simply that there were many women like my mother who were much more than they seemed. I remember her frustration whenever she felt belittled because she was just a woman, and she often recalled how she had had to give up her job when she got married (a Foreign Office rule until 1972). She was clearly highly regarded and had been lined up for a fascinating top position in London when she recklessly accepted my father’s proposal on her return from Moscow in 1959.
How do you see The Secretary adding to the conversation about women’s roles in history, particularly those who worked behind the scenes?
Though the espionage is mostly fictional, the background to the story is absolutely authentic and illustrates how single women in the diplomatic sphere lived in Moscow during the Cold War. The fact that they were even there is often overlooked, but they worked extremely hard in an unforgiving, tense atmosphere that even the brittle merry-go-round of parties within a closed society could not alleviate. There was no glory in it for them, only making a vital contribution and hoping to survive their tour of duty intact. I hope it brings the reality of what they experienced to life in a relatable way.
Spy novels involve a lot of plotting. What was the most challenging part of drafting the plot and keeping the reader on their toes?
Easily the most challenging part of writing this book was keeping the balance between the historical reality of the setting and the need to create a propulsive plot. I wanted to build a true picture of the old Moscow embassy across the Moskva River from the Kremlin, the places frequented by Westerners like the Metropol Hotel and the Bolshoi, and the grim flats where they lived. The atmosphere of the era brought inherent tension – the sense of constantly being watched, the listening devices in the walls, the intense cold, the isolation, the fear of being tested and making a mistake. The whole story is seen through Lois’s eyes and thoughts, so I had to ensure the reader would empathise with her as the screws tightened with every chapter.
Do you think spy fiction has evolved in how it portrays female protagonists?
Definitely! I’ve just finished reading David McCloskey’s hugely successful Moscow X about a daring present-day CIA operation in Russia. It features not one but three brave, bright, feisty female operatives that take centre stage alongside the men, and it’s a terrific read, reflecting how times have moved on for women in the intelligence services. In 1958, Lois was still subject to male prejudice and set expectations, despite being hand-picked for the Moscow task because of her exceptional personal qualities. Her story had to reflect her female status. In one tight spot Lois considers that if she had been a man, she could have bought a black market gun in a backstreet bar, but for her that was impossible.
Johann and Lois share a love story with high political stakes. How did you go about writing their romance with the tension of espionage?
The character of Johann is based on my mother’s real-life German boyfriend in Moscow. He features in her diary, and she often spoke to me about him. He was also a journalist, slightly older than her, cosmopolitan…though whether he was a spy in real life shall forever remain a mystery. If he was, she never said. Several of the scenes he appears in – nights at the ballet and at the Metropol, making recordings of reading Rilke – were taken from the diary. I attributed all kinds of imaginary motivations to him and had some fun.
What are you working on next?
A light-hearted murder mystery set in Provence. It will be the third in a series that began with “Death in Provence”, co-written with my husband Rob under the pseudonym Serena Kent. The idea began as a joke while we were in the South of France, but rather unexpectedly we got publishing deals in the UK, USA and Germany for two books and our sleuth Penelope Kite was born: a clever, optimistic divorcee who begins a new life in the sun, only to find herself solving crimes amid the ever-present temptations of too much pâtisserie and rosé.
Deborah Lawrenson is a journalist and novelist, and the author of The Secretary.
