Roosevelt’s Confidante is the eponymous heroine, Maggie Hope, ostensibly Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s secretary, actually special ops spy and code-breaker. MacNeal’s murder mystery is historically rich, interweaving fictional and non-fictional characters that never feel contrived. Roosevelt’s Confidante, fifth in the Maggie Hope series set during WWII.

Miniver, which gets a nod in Susan Elia MacNeal’s Mrs. She watched The Guns Of Navarone sundry times, even Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante.Ever since youthful Miss Bates watched black-and-white film matinées, she’s a sucker for a narrative set in WWII (also, the glorious Band Of Brothers). Her portrait of President Roosevelt and his outspoken wife, Eleanor, as well as then-current political frowns, head shakes, appreciation and laughter are the rewards for reading 'Mrs. black citizens adds several significant layers to the love story. Her accuracy in depicting such simple things as the kind of drinks served in bars so long ago or what direction taxis drive in Washington, D.C., or the prevailing persecution of U.S. It's interesting today to read about some of the prevailing attitudes and opinions, as well as actions to support or deny those, as the author laces them into the story she is telling. Social mores play a role - national habits of honesty and evil at that time. Spies galore, a man convicted - illegally so in Hope's opinion after listening to her American friends - and a dramatic rescue of her German sister are only a part of the mix. The story begins with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and further German intrusion into western Europe, as both sides, allied and axis, fight to perfect a definitive bomb to end the war. That latter small portion of the novel is based on real events in the life of Roald Dahl. A light love story, a detailed picture of what American lives were like during the war, and an unexpected, but believable, tie-in with Walt Disney and Hollywood, keep one reading. Dealing with two such personalities as the leaders of these two nations desperately fighting Adolf Hitler and Japan tax clever Hope to the limit.Īn advantage to reading MacNeal's novels is that her research is so pointed and accurate that this picture of the two rulers and their wives, plus the fine drawing of young military men on their way to war, offers reader satisfaction. One demanding 'master' would have been difficult.

While one is glad that Hope is safely out of England and in the United States after some chilling times in earlier novels, that safety is just a ruse to entice one to learn and appreciate her skill and daring.

Mrs roosevelt's confidante