Keith Ricketts
Rob Nolasco’s story of his mother’s role in British military intelligence in second world war China is an amazing tale of an ordinary Hong Kong woman of Eurasian heritage being caught up in tumultuous world events of the twentieth century. It’s an exciting and at times very moving tale of a woman who shows great personal courage and ingenuity, running an underground network of secret agents in southern China, during the Japanese occupation. Like many who worked for the secret services during World War 2, she never spoke of her vital but perilous role in the war, and it was only after her death that personal papers revealed the truth about her work as a British spy. Now her son tells her remarkable life story and the story of Eurasians in China and their place in its colonial history. This highly readable and gripping memoir takes the reader to a time and place that few know about. Reading Courage in the Shadows is like watching the best episode of the TV series “Who Do You Think You Are?”. Both a fascinating piece of history and a deeply moving personal story of one woman's bravery and her fortitude in the face of the many challenges she faced.
