'Reads like a thriller . . . Written in a pacey, suspenseful present tense, it's biography with a pulse . . . a superb, sure-footed work of historical detection conceived with a powerful intelligence'
- Sunday Times
'A beautifully rich portrait of a very brave woman. While never less than scrupulously researched, this biography explodes the genre of "biography": experimental but achieved, Donner's story reads with the speed of a thriller, the depth of a novel and the urgency of an essay, like some deeply compelling blend of Alan Furst and W.G. Sebald'
- James Wood
'Astonishing . . . wilder and more expansive than a standard-issue biography . . . a real-life thriller with a cruel ending'
- New York Times
'Written in a fizzing present tense, the book in places reads like a spy novel . . . Donner writes in beautiful, crisp prose (like her great-great-aunt, as quotes from Mildred's letters reveal) . . . The result is a work that transports us to a period now slipping from living memory but that contains vital lessons for our own time'
- Herald
'A tour de force of investigation . . . gripping'
- Economist