Janey Brown just completed her first mission as Jane Blonde, Sensational Spylet. Now the kitty-knapping of her spy-cat, Trouble, launches her into another incredible investigation! A group of crazed scientists believe they have discovered the secret to a cat's nine lives - but they need Trouble for their experiments. All the clues lead Janey down a manhole - defeating the enemy is going to be a wet and stinky business! But with chewing gum that lets her breathe underwater, a tracking device called a SPIpod and a high-speed mini-hoverboard - as well her natural code-cracking expertise - Jane Blonde is ready for action ...
Plain Janey Brown transforms into Jane Blonde: Sensational Spylet in this brilliantly inventive, hilarious adventure story from a first-time author. Ten-year-old Janey Brown feels like she is practically invisible. With her stick-thin legs, mousy brown hair and grey eyes, no one ever notices her. Then a crazy woman turns up at the school gates, claiming to be Janeys godmother. According to hip-hop-talking, larger-then-life G-Mamma, Janey Brown really is something special. Shes Jane Blonde, Sensational Spyletand its time for her first mission Swapping her too-big school uniform for a silver spysuit, and her battered satchel for a set of amazing gadgets, Janey soon discovers that nothing in her life, or in her past, is as it seems. Her elusive Uncle Solomon happens to be the head of SPI (Solomons Politicational Investigations) and the greatest spy the world has ever known. Recruited by the government to work on top-secret Project Crystal Clear, Solomon has made a scientific discovery that could change the world. But now hes gone missing. Can Jane Blonde get to him first? Or will The Snerlesse, a rogue spying group with evil purposes (and a very nasty dog), hunt him down and take his secret?
A chance discovery inside a vintage typewriter case reveals the gripping story of two sisters on opposite sides of World War II in this captivating novel for readers of Lilac Girls and The Women in the Castle. “Spins a captivating tale of two young English women—sisters caught on two opposing sides of the war.”—Associated Press New York, present day: On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel. Within its case she discovers an unfinished novel, igniting a transatlantic journey to fill the gaps in the story of Cordelia and her sister and the secret that lies between them. Europe, 1936: Cordelia’s socialite sister Irene marries a German industrialist who whisks her away to Berlin. Cordelia, feistier and more intellectual than Irene, gets a job at a newspaper in Paris, pursuing the journalism career she cherishes. As politics begin to boil in Europe, the sisters exchange letters and Cordelia discovers that Irene’s husband is a Nazi sympathizer. With increasing desperation, Cordelia writes to her beloved sister, but as life in Nazi Germany darkens, Irene no longer dares admit what her existence is truly like. Knowing that their letters cannot tell the whole story, Cordelia decides to fill in the blanks by sitting down with her Underwood and writing the truth. When Juno reads the unfinished novel, she resolves to uncover the secret that continued to divide the sisters amid the turmoil of love, espionage, and war. In this vivid portrait of Nazi Berlin, from its high society to its devastating fall, Jane Thynne examines the truths we sometimes dare not tell ourselves. Advance praise for The Words I Never Wrote “In sumptuous prose, Jane Thynne limns the lives of two sisters ripped apart by the moral choices they made in a time of war. Dramatic, fast-paced, and emotional, The Words I Never Wrote puts the interior details of women’s lives in stark relief against the dramatic backdrop of Europe in World War II, helping readers understand the difficult choices that women made.”—Elizabeth Letts, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse “Haunting, taut, and compelling, this portrait of two upper-class British sisters divided by World War II is a kaleidoscopic story of love and betrayal whose characters are never quite what they seem. It will capture your attention immediately and keep you thinking for a long time to come.”—Lynne Olson, author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War
Netflix’s most watched limited series to date! The thrilling novel of one young woman’s journey through the worlds of chess and drug addiction. When eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s parents are killed in an automobile accident, she’s placed in an orphanage in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more—and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother’s tranquilizers to which she is becoming addicted. At thirteen, Beth wins the chess tournament. By the age of sixteen she is competing in the US Open Championship and, like Fast Eddie in The Hustler, she hates to lose. By eighteen she is the US champion—and Russia awaits . . . Fast-paced and elegantly written, The Queen’s Gambit is a thriller masquerading as a chess novel—one that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. “The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” —Michael Ondaatje, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The English Patient
Anna Cavanaugh is a restless young widow and brilliant French teacher at a private school in Washington, DC. Everything changes when she's recruited into the Office of Strategic Services by family friend and legendary WWI hero Major General William Donovan.
Now that the Napoleonic wars have ended, daring secret agent Lady Sophia Smythe must return to her tedious husband, Lord Adrian Smythe, who she may find has a few secrets of his own.
The Untold Story of Britain's First Female Special Agent of World War II In June 1952, a woman was murdered by an obsessed colleague in a hotel in the South Kensington district of London. Her name was Christine Granville. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising; that she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. The daughter of a feckless Polish aristocrat and his wealthy Jewish wife, Granville would become one of Britain's most daring and highly decorated special agents. Having fled to Britain on the outbreak of war, she was recruited by the intelligence services and took on mission after mission. She skied over the hazardous High Tatras into occupied Poland, served in Egypt and North Africa, and was later parachuted behind enemy lines into France, where an agent's life expectancy was only six weeks. Her courage, quick wit, and determination won her release from arrest more than once, and saved the lives of several fellow officers—including one of her many lovers—just hours before their execution by the Gestapo. More importantly, the intelligence she gathered in her espionage was a significant contribution to the Allied war effort, and she was awarded the George Medal, the OBE, and the Croix de Guerre. Granville exercised a mesmeric power on those who knew her. In The Spy Who Loved, acclaimed biographer Clare Mulley tells the extraordinary history of this charismatic, difficult, fearless, and altogether extraordinary woman.
Sometimes the Best Bond for a Job is a Jane ... Jane Bond. "What's the story on Bond?" "Your man is a homicidal depressive paranoiac," the doctor reported. "I know that. I want to know what's wrong with him! And be straight with me, man. No medical mumbo jumbo." "He's lost his nerve." N. had suspected as much. After a long while spent staring at the jagged skyline of London, N. came to a decision. He had no other choice but to go through with Pumpernickel's ridiculous plan. Enter Bond, Jane Bond, James's lesbian twin sister and haoless bookstore employee, who steps in to masquerade as her brother at an awards ceremony with the queen. But when the dastardly Sons of Britain (S.O.B.s), a nefarious fraternity plotting to bring the Duke and Duchess of Windsor back to power, show up, it's up to some unexpected heros to save the day. The Powder Puff Girls -- makeup salespersons by day, secret agents by night -- step in to secure the future of Britain while Jane keeps her brother's reputation intact...both in and out of the bedroom!
Jane Blonde, sensational spylet is hurled on her coolest mission yet when she enrols at SPIcamp! There are gadgets galore at the top secret facility and there's even a snowdome, where the spylets can chill out. When the team is sent on a mysterious polar expedition, Janey's spylet training and her new snowboarding skills are put to the test. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.
