Carré’s memoirs (originally published in 1959, revised in 1975), which Philipps has mined to good effect, show that she survived her tumultuous war in part because she resolutely continued to believe both in her own worth and that she would finally have revenge. ‘The narrative was as truthful as she could make it,’ Philipps comments, ‘while allowing her to sustain her sense of self.’ Ultimately Victoire is similarly forgiving towards this dynamic but volatile agent, choosing to focus on her ‘human contradictions and vulnerabilities, and her strenuous, sometimes heroic, attempts to overcome those’. In doing so this is a deeply humane book, and humanly flawed.