Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal is a WWII novel of which I’ve read so many, but this is a new story in a new location. The book starts in New York and then lands in Los Angeles in 1940. Veronica Grace, a very promising national award winning journalism major has just graduated from college and intended to take a job with a prominent magazine, Mademoiselle. But when Betsy Blackwell, the legendary editor in chief of the magazine learned of Veronica’s affair, she invoked the moral clause in Veronica’s contract and then withdrew the offer of a job. Veronica’s affair with a prominent man led to getting blackballed from any real journalistic jobs in New York. Max Applebaum’s wife was the daughter of one of the titans of New York City publishing. She was faced with a tough decision and she chose to move to LA, along with her widowed mother. Veronica made the move without having prearranged employment. Her mother was also a beautiful blond and the daughter of German immigrants. They were not left with much of an estate from Veronica’s deceased father, so the women both needed to find employment.

 

With the war already starting in Europe, there was much talk about world affairs, and it was established early in the novel that there were many German agents throughout the U.S. who were looking for ways to support Germany and Hitler in the war effort. As the daughter of immigrants, both Veronica’s mother, Violet “Vi,” looked German, spoke German, and lived in a German community in New York City. It was Vi’s brother that offered them one of his houses in Santa Monica.

 

Despite their connection to the German community, Veronica and Vi were not friends of Hitler. Rather, they were quite upset about the anti-democratic events that they knew were happening. Some of Veronica’s undergraduate writings were specifically anti-Nazi pieces. Meanwhile, the FBI agents in LA were tracking pro-Nazi events there, and early in the book, one of their agents was murdered when his true purpose was discovered by the Nazi sympathizers. 

 

With that setup, this is a story about Veronica and Vi stumbling into a group of Germans in LA, some of whom were active in the pro-Nazi movement. Being desperate to find work, Veronica volunteered her typing skills to a German businessman who she only later discovered was the source of hateful anti-Jew propaganda. She needed the work but was ready to quit the job because of the content this organization was putting forward. However, Veronica and Vi were then encouraged by the FBI to continue to be infiltrators and informants. That’s what the story was about as the protagonist and their mother began to move in the Nazi circles where they gathered information to pass along to the FBI. While being fully aware of the danger they were in if discovered, they chose to continue this work. When they passed along some data that led to the interruption of planned pro-Nazi activities, the leaders became suspicious that there was a  mole in their midst and suddenly Veronica and Vi became suspects of being the moles.

 

I thought the novel offered a new look at terrorism at home, and considering the civil unrest that was the goal of the Nazis, much of this sounded similar to some of the anti-democratic news reports that are currently occurring in the U.S.