The ways we hide : a novel

"Fenna Vos has learned to focus on her own survival --even now, with the Second World War raging in faraway countries. She works on-stage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist--behind the curtain as the mastermind of their act. After all, her honed ability to control her surroundings and elude entrapments, physical or otherwise, reliably suppresses the trauma and tragedy of her youth. For all her calculations, however, Fenna neglects to foresee being called upon by British Intelligence. Tasked with creating escape tools to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins an unconventional group of inventors--but delving deeper into the fray means a confrontation with her past and stakes more treacherous than she ever imagined"-- Provided by publisher.

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Library	Shelf Location	Shelf Number	Material Type	Item Barcode	Status
Searching... Palmerston North Central Library	General Fiction-Fiction Zone	MCM	Book.	PN364650044683	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"The Queen's Gambit meets The Alice Network in this epic, action-packed novel of family, loss, and one woman's journey to save all she holds dear--including freedom itself." --Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday--over a million copies sold--comes a sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path.

As a little girl raised amid the hardships of Michigan's Copper Country, Fenna Vos learned to focus on her own survival. That ability sustains her even now as the Second World War rages in faraway countries. Though she performs onstage as the assistant to an unruly escape artist, behind the curtain she's the mastermind of their act. Ultimately, controlling her surroundings and eluding traps of every kind helps her keep a lingering trauma at bay.

Yet for all her planning, Fenna doesn't foresee being called upon by British military intelligence. Tasked with designing escape aids to thwart the Germans, MI9 seeks those with specialized skills for a war nearing its breaking point. Fenna reluctantly joins the unconventional team as an inventor. But when a test of her loyalty draws her deep into the fray, she discovers no mission is more treacherous than escaping one's past.

Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight--on the battlefields and within ourselves--and the courage found in unexpected places.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Spy fiction.

Reviews (1)

Booklist Review

Set during the 1940s with occasional flashbacks, McMorris' latest (after Sold on a Monday, 2018) introduces the reader to Fenna Vos, who works with fellow stage musician Charles in a traveling show that pays homage to Houdini with daring escapes from locked items. The power struggle between the two of them soon comes to a head. An unusual offer from an audience member entices Fenna to take a chance at something new as an unconventional wartime civil servant in London working for MI9. Her choice sets her on the path for an unusual and personally fraught future where she is forced to come to a reckoning with all the parts of her past that she has hidden from others, but most of all from herself. Readers will be drawn into Fen's frustrations, anger, terror, joy, and constant drive to innovate when new challenges are put in her way. This is no fairy tale, and the ending is satisfying rather than happy, as befits a story set during wartime. Readers interested in historical fiction, Houdini's illusions, Depression-era United States, wartime London, and the Nazi Resistance in Holland will be quickly captured by the realistic characters and situations.