Unexpected Undercover: Forty Fearless Female Spies

Cracking codes, donning disguises, smuggling secret messages, intercepting military transmissions, sabotaging enemy strongholds, parachuting behind enemy lines—the 40 women spies discussed in this profusely illustrated book harnessed their courage and risked their lives to help fight for causes they believed in.

• A judge’s wife uses laundry on her clothesline to send secret messages, helping General George Washington’s army win the Revolutionary War.
• An abolitionist builds an elaborate spy ring deep in enemy territory, enlisting former slaves to transmit military intelligence and help Union prisoners escape from Confederate jails.
• A New Zealand housewife joins the French Resistance and becomes the Gestapo’s #1 most-wanted spy.
• A Soviet spy implanted in the USA passes nuclear weaponry plans back to the Soviet nuclear base.

This biography collection begins with a glossary of espionage terms and then features an international roster of spies—both the good gals and the bad gals. Each spy is given two spreads (four pages) in a dossier-style format, including her photo, name, code name (if applicable), birth year, country of origin, and a brief description of her life and clandestine activities.

The book is divided into espionage during wartime, so background on each time period is provided before launching into section of bios. Among the spies included are Audrey Hepburn, Kate Warne, Harriet Tubman, Sarah Emma Edmonds, Judith Geller, and Josephine Baker.

Also included are author interviews with three contemporary spies: Jonna Mendez, former CIA chief of disguise; Valerie Plame, CIA undercover agent outed by the U.S. government; and Ilana Berry CIA counterterrorism operations officer.

A photograph of each spy is included, and the entire project is profusely and beautifully illustrated by Beatriz Ortiz, a Cuban photo collage illustrator based in Brazil. The book includes an author’s note, endnotes, bibliography, and index.

Includes spies from the Revolutionary War (like Anna Smith Strong and Ann Bates), the Civil War (like Harriet Tubman and Belle Boyd), World War I (like Louise de Bettignies, the “Queen of Spies”), World War II (Virginia Hall, Noor Inayat Khan, and Audrey Hepburn), the Cold War, and the Iraq War.