Place of Exile

Tom Stafford inherits a villa on the Greek island of Mytos. He has no idea who his benefactor could be and the Will stipulates he has to travel personally to the island to take ownership. There, he meets the captivating Ophelia and together they set out to solve the mystery surrounding the identity of Tom's benefactor and why he never returned to England following the end of World War II. They find the answers in A Reluctant Spy, a novel written just after the end of the war during its author's self-exile on the island. It tells of how he was enlisted into the shadowy world of SOE, the Special Operations Executive. Of how his ability to speak Greek fluently made him perfect for Operation Aristo, a mission that ended badly with him taking the blame for its failure and being branded a traitor. A Reluctant Spy takes the reader from wartime London to Athens, just days before the German occupation of the city. Shown through the lives of three people: a SOE agent; a female American broadcaster and a New Zealander army sergeant stranded as the British Expeditionary Force evacuates mainland Greece.