Book Review (Fiction) - Aurore

Aurore

Graham Hurley    

Head Of Zeus 2017                                                 409 Pages   

The second world war has proved a generous mine for authors of war stories; former TV documentary film maker Graham Hurley, previously noted for his Winter and Faraday mysteries, is the latest to join their ranks. Aurore (French for “first light”) is the second of his “Wars Within” trilogy.

The war was fought on many different parallel fronts; Aurore details what happens when two of these intersect. Twenty-seven-year-old RAF Flight Sergeant Billy Angell, a wireless operator on Lancaster bombers, seemingly has nothing in common with middle-aged French sophisticate Helene Lafosse in her chateau in the Touraine.- but their disparate worlds are about to collide.

Plucked from RAF Bomber Command by MI6 after surviving the completion of his 30^th mission, Flight Sergeant Angell, a former actor and Quaker conscientious objector, is sent to occupied France with the objective of making contact with Mme Lafosse – and passing on disinformation about the impending invasion of continental Europe by the Western Allies.

For the chatelaine  of the Chateau de Neaune is the mistress of a senior German  intelligence officer, Oberst Klimt; despite being the wife of an refugee Jewish art dealer/magnate, Nathan Khorrami, now lodged  in London. Shielded by this relationship, Mme Lafosse provides refuge to Jews, communists and members of the French Resistance.

Any successful spy has, perforce, to be a very good actor. Billy, though understandably nervous about his first foray into espionage, is at least confident about his acting ability. Author Graham Hurley’s background in TV documentaries shows in the vivid world building of Billy’s wartime service in the RAF, especially the traumatic psychological effect of witnessing so much carnage – and the uncomfortable realization of his role in the fire-bombing of Hamburg, 1943.

Hurley deftly depicts the moral dilemmas and compromises forced on his characters as they try to navigate their personal journeys through the horrors of war and occupation. The core of Aurore is the multi-faceted interactions and relationships of the protagonists caught in a web not of their weaving. Much of the plot development is also very credible, thanks to the author’s skilful blending of fact and fiction based on extensive research.

Aurore is an engaging novel, for one driven largely by fear and tension. The author is able to effectively evoke the claustrophobic sense of threat that must inevitably attend any espionage mission or participation in underground resistance.