The White Lady

​Shortly after the end of World War II, Miss Elinor (Linni) White – known to the locals as simply the “White Lady” - keeps to herself and lives a quiet life in a Kent village. Of Belgian/English heritage (and born with the surname of de Witt), she served in the underground in both World Wars and carries the scars. When she witnesses a local family being threatened by heavies from London, she becomes embroiled in trying to protect them. This brings her back in contact with individuals from her past in the SOE, the government and Scotland Yard.
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Readers familiar with the author’s earlier books featuring Maisie Dobbs, will immediately detect echoes of that character in Elinor: an independent woman of courage and determination with an astute understanding of human nature.

Rather slow to get started, once Elinor is faced with the London gangster family and the strange doings of her former policeman lover and his possible links to a dubious member of the government, the story does pick up.

Winspear is always thorough with her research and descriptions of life in Britain during the mid-20th century. The criminal connections help to reflect a different angle on post-war London, but primarily the book is yet another tale of female wartime heroics which have saturated the publishing market for rather too long now and the impact is lessened.

(Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC)

Three-and-a-half stars.

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