Introduction

I’m Iona Italia and I’ll be your host this week. My guest today is Clare Mulley. Clare is an award-winning historian, biographer, writer, and broadcaster whose work focuses on the role of women in the Second World War. She is the author of The Woman who Saved the Children, a biography of Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children; The Spy who Loved, an account of the life of Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, the first British female special agent in WWII; The Women who Flew for Hitler, a double biography of Nazi Germany’s only female test pilots: true believer Hanna Reitsch and clandestine opponent of Nazism, Melitta von Stauffenberg.

Today, we’ll be talking about her most recent book, Agent Zo, a gripping and vivid account of the life of Elżbieta Zawacka, aka “Zo,” a key figure in the Polish resistance and the sole female member of an elite group of parachutists known as the Silent Unseen. We’ll talk about Zo’s indefatigable work as a courier, spy, soldier, and organiser, her participation in the Polish fight against the Nazis and then in the struggle for freedom from Soviet oppression in the years following the war. Zo’s exploits make James Bond look like a slacker. But, importantly, she was not the only Polish woman to deserve military honours and she spent her life fighting for recognition for the women who risked their lives for Poland. Cometh the hour, cometh the woman—and what a woman. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Clare Mulley.