Krystyna Skarbek Two of the UK's heavyweight publishing houses went head to head in a bidding war over a planned biography of Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville), one of the most fabled Allied secret agents of the Second World War.
The book, which has the working title The Spy Who Loved, is being penned by award-winning biographer Clare Mulley.
Pan Macmillan emerged the victor in the auction, outdoing long-standing rival Penguin.
The winning publisher enthused in a press release that the project is “a wonderful tale of a fascinating, difficult and enormously courageous woman, whose love life was every bit as colourful as her heroic acts of espionage.”
Krystyna Skarbek was born in 1915 into a distinguished clan. Her father was an impoverished nobleman whilst her mother who was the scion of a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family.
The future spy was in Africa when war broke out in 1939, and she gained British backing to launch clandestine missions to occupied Poland. She was given the pseudonym of Christine Granville, one of several false identities.
Later, as an operative of the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) she was parachuted into occupied France. Amongst her most famed exploits was the rescue of her commanding officer Francis Cammaerts (together with two cohorts) from the clutches of the Gestapo.
Skarbek married twice and had a string of affairs with highly colourful characters, including fellow agent Andrzej Kowerski (Andrew Kennedy).
It has been claimed that after the war, she had a relationship with Bond author Ian Fleming, even inspiring the fictional agent Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale. Fleming once cited Skarbek in his writings, but recent research has questioned whether the alleged year-long affair was concocted by an over-enthusiastic biographer named Donald McCormick.
Skarbek was unable to resettle in Poland after the war owing to the installation of communism. She was murdered in London in 1952 by a spurned admirer.
The Spy Who Loved is due to be released next year. (nh)