The Paris Agent

When she becomes an SOE operative, Eloise (code name Fleur) is a war widow. She was married to Giles, a pilot whose plane was shot down in North Africa. They had a whirlwind courtship and were married after just six months of dating. When he left for war, she was pregnant, but he never got to meet their son, Hughie. When Eloise learned of Giles’s death, she felt powerless. Leaving her son to join the resistance was the only way she could find to her process the grief of her husband’s death. Eloise does not have the best relationship with her mother, but her mother nonetheless helps her with Hughie after Giles is shot down.

After Eloise is invited to join the SOE, she feels pained to leave her son in England but is confident that her mother will look after him. After she returns from her first mission, she is devastated to learn that her was murdered while her son was in the apartment. Like her fellow operatives, Eloise is initially comforted by the leadership of the SOE, believing the organization to be morally upstanding and impenetrable. Although she is troubled by her growing suspicions about Turner, she tries to justify his behavior as a reaction to his crumbling family empire and his gambling debts. Once she realizes that there are too many coincidences to overlook, she starts to build a case against him, keeping a note of his gambling debts as an “insurance policy.” Eloise is devastated by Turner’s betrayal, and the development makes her doubt her ability to identify who is trustworthy.

Eloise is driven by the pursuit of justice. She dreams of a post-war world in which the Allies’ victory will show that love triumphs over hate. While she hopes to survive the war, she has realistic expectations about the very risky nature of her job. She prepares for her son’s future in the event that she does not survive the war, and she leaves him letters written by her and her husband, as well as a rosary and medal that belonged to Giles. The guilt of motherhood poses constant conflict for Eloise, who badly wishes to be with her son; however, she accepts that her skill set and knowledge make her a valuable asset to the SOE, and she believes that her efforts may help bring about an Allied victory. Like Josie, Eloise is a considerate and strong friend and a determined agent. She finds comfort in her friendship with Josie in the final days of her life. As she dies, she thinks of her son.

In 1970, Noah is a retired mechanic who is grieving the loss of his wife, Geraldine, who was hit by a car at the age of 54. Geraldine’s death prompts Noah to consider diving into his past. His children, Charlotte and Archie, learn that Noah was actually an airplane mechanic who was selected to join the SOE during World War II. He left school at 16 to enlist in the army, and in 1940, his plane was hit. His parachute blew him into the yard of a French farmer, and a resistance group smuggled him through a series of safe houses until he met Josie, a female resistance operative. They escaped via the Pyrenees. When he returned home, he learned that his parents and five brothers had been killed in the Liverpool Blitz. He stayed in touch with Josie after returning to the UK and was invited to return to France as a Special Operations Executive. Noah eventually broke up with Geraldine because he had to return to France. During this time, he also lost touch with Josie.

In the years after the war, he never told his children about his time in the SOE, and Geraldine did not like him to speak about his wartime experiences. When he tells Charlotte that he would like to embark on a project to unearth the memories that he repressed, she is very supportive, but his sister-in-law, Kathleen, is suspicious, assuming that he wants to find his wartime lovers. In reality, he intends to find Remy, the person who brought him to the hospital years ago, so that he can thank the man for saving his life.

As an SOE operative in France in 1943, he is thrilled to discover that he has been paired with Josie. His code name is Marcel, and Josie pretends to be his wife while working as a nanny for the accountant of the factory that they need to destroy. As Noah and Josie pursue an illicit romantic relationship, they are afraid to plan for a future, but they eagerly enjoy their time together and hope that they will be reunited.

Noah is described by both Charlotte and Josie as warm, sensitive, thoughtful, and dependable. He supports his teammates and does not demonstrate misogynistic tendencies; he praises and uplifts his female colleagues and his daughter as much as he does his male colleagues and his son. The work of Charlotte and Theo enables him to make peace with his past, and he is relieved to finally know for certain that he did not cause Josie’s death.