Codename: Madeleine by Barnaby Jameson

 

Codename: Madeleine by Barnaby Jameson.

Published 28th July 2022 by Whitefox Publishing.

From the cover of the book:

A Mystic’s daughter flees Moscow on the eve of the Great War.

A French soldier lies wounded on the Western Front.

A German officer veers between loyalty and integrity.

An English courtesan reclines on a sea of books.

Each will make a journey that changes history.

The constellations will force the Mystic’s daughter to make an impossible choice. To remain at her harp as the shadow of war looms again – or join the top-secret Special Operations Executive (SOE). Babouli to her Sufi father, ‘Madeleine’ to the Gestapo, a lone mission to Occupied Paris promises to be the most hazardous of World War Two.

Inspired by real events, CODENAME: MADELEINE is the most unexpected spy story ever told. It teems with tigers, zeppelins, elephants, U-boats, angels, assassins, chessmen, cyanide, beetles, butterflies and Rumi. Revolving between Paris, London, Prague, India and Latin America, CODENAME: MADELEINE is a kaleidoscope of love, war, music, betrayal, poetry and resistance.

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I find myself at a bit of a loss how to even begin talking about this book, as it is quite unlike anything I have ever read about war and resistance.

The central thread to this mesmerising debut is one based on fact - the incredible tale of Noor Inayat Khan, who was the first female wireless operator to be sent as an SOE operative into occupied France during World War II. Her codename was Madeleine, and her bravery remarkable. 

Around Noor's tale, Barnaby Jameson weaves an incredible web of strands around the stories of an array of intriguing characters, including Noor's Sufi mystic father, a French soldier terribly disfigured on the battlefield of the Great War, a rather famous German officer, and an English courtesan with a passion for books. Their stories are complex and twisting, and it is hard to see quite how they all relate to each other at first, but there is method to Jameson's apparent literary madness that comes into focus in time. They all capture your imagination, but for me it is Noor that holds this story together, and it is her fate that dashes your heart into a million pieces.

Jameson's writing style is unusual for a book of this kind, especially one based on factual people and events. His prose is literary, and his use of imagery is astonishing. At times, I felt like I was in the midst of an exotic, dystopian masterpiece, with seductive layers that catch you up completely in the lives of the characters - with a side order of the Kingsman film series. Amongst all the very real horrors of war, and struggles for survival, this is a book threaded with spirituality and magical realism that draws on its beginnings with Noor's father's search for meaning, combining his teachings with all the many threads as they play out over time. Everything is rich in detail, feeling and atmosphere in a way that is impossible to convey in a brief review - it is something you have to experience to appreciate.

This is a genre busting kind of book, which holds you fast over its 500-odd page duration and does not let you go until it spits you out broken and battered. Noor's story is compelling and deserves to be much more widely known. I urge you to do a little research about her, because she was an incredible woman. This is also the first part in the brand new Resistance series from debut author Jameson, and I will be fascinated to see what comes next, because this is really something new and interesting on the wartime fiction front.

Codename: Madeleine is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Midas PR for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Barnaby Jameson is a counter-terrorist barrister. He has appeared in the most notorious terrorist cases of the century including plots to overthrow governments and assassinate politicians as well as terrorist bombings in the UK and overseas. His work has brought him into contact with modern-day successors of the Special Operations Executive. CODENAME: MADELEINE has a global canvas centred on France where Barnaby studied at university in Provence before reading history (haphazardly) at Cambridge. Away from court, Barnaby is found kitesurfing in the Atlantic off Essaouira, Morocco, or in the wine-dark waters of the Aegean. CODENAME: MADELEINE is Barnaby’s first book in ‘The Resistance’ series.