Although I have read many books about World War 2, this was a very different type of story. Twins, Theo and Tessa are incredibly close. However, in 1938, something happens to Tessa and their bond is stretched. In the war, Theo becomes a pilot and Tessa ends up as an operative in France. However, there is a traitor and despite Tessa warning about him, he remains untouched. There is the suggestion that Tessa was a traitor. Much of the book focuses on Theo's life after the war and the eventual unraveling byPH D student, Edie, of what really happened. This looks at gender issues, rape, cover-ups, homosexuality , class and many issues of the time. Tessa is portrayed as a vibrant character, and one can only feel so sad for Theo for happened to him on top of his loss of Tessa. Clearly, there was a lot of research behind this book and I learned more about the war and life afterwards. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collin’s for offering this book to me in exchange for a honest review.

I was asked to review this book by NetGalley and so glad I did.

I have an interest in second World War history, at half term I visited the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu and came across an SOE musum in the grounds which fascinated me. Mark Smith from the Antiques Roadshow - brings together not just enuthusiasm for this period but also real people were involved.

The author has carried out a great deal of research which is intertwinned with this story of two fictional characters Theo and Tessa - Theo comes home Tessa does not.

What is remarkable that this is not just the story of that time and never knowing really what happended- today research is being carried out that we now are privilaged to know - sadly relatives at that time would never have been able to find ou.

Fast forward to a PHD student who is researching the SOE during the war - finds Theo and through her research they uncover he truth.

So well written and what a story i loved this so thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Lori Ingles Hall for letting me read this before others will have the chance.

This is a moving and fascinating book about a little known subject of World War 2 . Told through the eyes of twins Tessa and Theo who are brought up in. Cambridge by their French mother and English pacifist father , it charts little known territory about the SEO and their use of female spies .

Theo and Tessa have shared everything in life but one summer Tessa disappears to France and comes back changed , Theo joins the RAF as war breaks out, and before he can ask Tessa what has changed, she disappears again joining the SEO where she is parachuted into France . No one knows where she has gone and after the war the official line was that no women were involved . When Theo tries to find out what has happened to his twin he is threatened .
Years later a young Phd student makes contact with him and together they set out to discover just what happened.
This was a beautiful novel that moved me to tears of frustration ,sadness and anger. The way women were erased from history just to save face in public opinion and protect their male "superiors " is handled really well .It also charts how things that happened affected families for years afterwards and how attitudes have hopefully changed today.
Well worth a read

I loved this book! It really was by chance that I came across this novel. For some reason the cover really spoke to me when I saw it on NetGalley. I hadn't heard of it before, and really took a chance having read the blurb.
This is the story of Theo and Tessa, twins, who are in their young 20s in the heat of WW2. Theo goes off to become a pilot in the Air Force, and Tessa feels useless and despreately wants to do her bit. She is recruited into becoming a Secret operative and dropped in France, working with the French resistance movement at great risk. Meanwhile, her family know nothing about what she is doing, and the risk she is putting herself at.

Based on true life events, and real life women who became special operatives but without the protection provided to the personnel of the Armed Forces, this was a really educating read as well as a damn good story.

Highly recommend.

This has to be my book of the year. Based on fact and covering the war years up to early 2000’s. A story of twins separated by war and their own dark secrets. One twin survives, one doesn’t. The surviving twin is torn apart trying to find out if his sibling is alive or if not how she died. It takes a student studying for her thesis to help him unravel the awful truth 50 years later.

Well researched, informative, heartbreaking, raw and gritty, a book that stays with you, the true horror of war coming alive in a remarkable story.

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Such a beautifully moving book. Five stars. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

This is the story of two twins, Theo and Tessa, during the Second World War. The twins had shared everything but that started to change when Tessa moved to the land of their mother’s birth, France. Tessa came home with a secret that could not be shared. This was compounded when she was approached by a mutual friend during the war who knew her love of France and put her in a position where she had to keep a secret that really was life or death. This was a well constructed novel which kept me hooked from beginning to end. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my own opinions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books for the prepublication digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I rarely read historical fiction relating to this time period but was drawn to the overlaying story of the twins, whose relationship is really well explored here. Although a very hard read in many places I really enjoyed this novel and have romped through it in two days, the hardest part is knowing that so much of it is based on real life events and real people’s experiences of WW2. It is so well written that I quickly cared deeply about what was happening to each twin, and was really feeling their varying emotions of excitement, fear, pain, grief etc. Issues of forbidden love and hidden ‘shameful’ events for those times are really well described. Overall I loved this book, but was a little disappointed with the sudden end, I’m hoping this means there will be a sequel. Really well done Lori, what a great first novel, I’ll definitely recommend it to others.

What an absolute fabulous read. An emotional rollercoaster to say the least. Theo and Tessa are twins. As with most twins theirs is a close loving relationship in which they share everything, until they don’t. As the world is engulfed by war Theo joins the RAF. Tessa, bored and frustrated at being ‘just a typist’, jumps at the chance of being recruited into the SOE (Special Operations Executive), set up for spying and sabotage. Tessa is highly intelligent, resourceful and, she thinks, fully aware of the dangers. The author has done some in depth research and brings into the narrative the oversights, the errors and the ineptitude of the powers that be in relation to the women recruits, which have dire, fatal consequences.

Tessa is parachuted into France, behind enemy lines in order to act as courier to the French resistance. Immediately, things go horribly wrong and the consequences of this disaster resonate throughout the book. Meanwhile, Theo is traumatised by the events and sights of his time in the RAF.

This is a fantastically researched, heart rending novel dealing with the true horrors of war, and its effects on ordinary people, turned into extraordinary brave people through facing death or worse. It’s also a story of uncompromising love, of ‘forbidden’ love found amid the chaos and horror of a world at war.

The second part of the novel, post war, is equally compelling. One twin fails to return home. The other is damaged, physically and mentally, angry at being fobbed off about the fate of their twin, and pays the price of trying to find out what happened to them as the government cover up a huge wartime scandal. But truth will out. Even if it emerges decades later from a surprising source.

This book is sad and tragic but it resonates with truth and humanity. It’s not about the superficial derring-do of “heroes” at war, so not an “adventure” story. I think it’s more profound than that and the characters, especially Tessa and Theo, are portrayed with all their frailties and strengths, fears and joys. So don’t let my “sad” and “tragic” comments put you off. It’s an emotional brilliant read and the characters, fictional though they may be, will stay with me for a while yet.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC for my kindle. It is my honest opinion after a full read of the novel.

Excellent! Not your usual WWII novel: this one feels more real, more personal. The storyline is gripping featuring twins, Theo and Tessa. Tessa will operate as a spy behind the lines. Theo will fly for the RAF. Along with the risks, the fear of being caught, of being betrayed they both experience, the plot goes deeper. Indeed I will remember both characters as individuals, and not only as heroes. A big achievement on the part of the author! I loved reading as well about the special bond the twins share : a beautiful bond that can make you frail. The novel is also based on this relationship, intricacies and inevitabilities. Brilliantly done.
What I found particularly intriguing and astounding was to get an insight into the way women spies were considered. After the war. Particularly when they did not come back...
A very human and powerful novel. Highly recommended!
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

This book is brilliant. Heart wrenchingly sad as Theo spends most of his life trying to find out what happened to his twin sister during WW2. I appreciated the progressive timeline rather than one that pops backwards and forwards. A well written book which I highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for a review copy of this novel. Powerful and moving are words that immediately come to mind when describing this novel. Though the setting, the Second World War lends itself to powerful novels it’s very much down to Hall that the novel’s power is carried. Big concepts like the French resistance and women who worked behind the scenes drive the novel, but there are also other ideas like loyalty, romantic and family relationships, especially those of a sibling, as well as loss, rape that loom large too. Big ideas but well handled.

Two twins, Tessa and Theo are the central characters. Siblings, one impulsive and the other cautious, but who are so close they can immediately know and understand the thoughts of the other, until Tessa goes off to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. After her return, Theo knows she’s changed and something happened to her that he can’t discover. But war interrupts the brief time after her Sorbonne sojourn and Theo becomes an RAF pilot and Tessa stuck typing for the war office. Until a family friend who Tessa finds distasteful manages to secure her a change from her boring typing to something far more adventurous because of her perfect French and her mother’s French birth – to act as a courier behind enemy lines. Theo is posted meanwhile to Africa, completely ignorant of Tessa’s role. The distance becomes more than geographical as the war years go on and Theo must confront the changes in the world as well as his own life.

The author explains at the end that the story was inspired by the real group of women who risked their lives behind the lines, not officially recognized or enrolled in the British forces so if they were captured they couldn’t be treated as soldiers but would be treated at the whim of the Nazis. Many of their acts of bravery were swept under the carpet to avoid a scandal. Their contribution was only belatedly recognised and some not at all. A powerful fact added to a very powerful novel. As a women’s historian this novel provided extra appeal, perhaps, and led to the hope that this might be a novel that would be included in many must read lists in and out of educational institutions. Really a must read.

I love books set in WW2 so was delighted to be sent an ARC for review. Tess and Theo are twins with a French mother and English father. During the war Theo joins the RAF but Tessa is confined to office work until one day she is given an opportunity to go behind the lines and help the resistance in France. She is delighted to be asked but concerned that she has to keep her mission secret from Theo to whom she is very close.. When Tessa's parachute drop into France goes wrong it leads to a number of tragic events. In addditione, despite their closeness, each twin is hiding a secret from the other., a secret which they fear may lead their twin to despise them.

Theo's life is at least partially defined by his attempts to find out what happened to his sister. He doesn't find out until over fifty years later, helped by a doctoral student who is researching wht happened to the young women recruuited to do this undercover work,

I loved this book and it is, I think, my favourite book of the year. The story is based in fact. Thirty nine women were recruited to do this undercover work but they weren't offered any protection such as that given to soldiers in uniform. Their stories are largely untold. It is meticulously researched and has fuelled a desire in me to know more about these women. Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC. I hope this book will get the recognition it deserves. Highly recommended.

Please, read this book. It’s a fantastic, emotionally moving, and deeply researched novel. I’m very impressed and would recommend it to anyone looking for an exceptional work of historical fiction. I truly loved it.

Let me start by saying that I’m not usually drawn to stories set during the Second World War, and I’ve rarely read anything from that period. But something about this premise made me want to make an exception. This is the story of twins, Tessa and Theo, who both become involved in the war effort: Theo as an RAF pilot and Tessa working undercover in France. They go to war together, but only one of them comes home. Devastated by the loss of his twin, Theo’s post-war life is haunted by the uncertainty of not truly knowing what happened to Tessa. The physical injuries he suffered are nothing compared to the emotional wounds he endures.

Saying that this book moved me on multiple levels would be an understatement. The author doesn’t shy away from portraying some of the most tragic, dehumanizing, but also lesser-known aspects of the Second World War. Through the bond between two people who share one of the closest relationships imaginable, the story reveals how devastating this conflict was for ordinary lives. In my opinion, showing people against great history is the best way to approach historical fiction, and this book does it masterfully, even if it breaks your heart in the process.

At the same time, this is so much more than just a war story, and not only because much of it takes place after 1945. It’s also a novel about people struggling to be themselves, often against strict social conventions. Ironically, even though Tessa and Theo are closer to each other than to anyone else, they are still forced to hide certain intimate truths about themselves because of social taboos. The story powerfully illustrates how rigid British attitudes toward sexuality and the role of women in society ultimately prevent the characters from truly finding each other after the war.

In short, this is a very sad – heartbreakingly sad – but also profoundly beautiful story. Following Theo’s search to discover what happened to his sister is a deeply emotional experience. Not all the questions are answered at the end, but I think the best books are often those in which endings also feel like new beginnings.

I love any book about this period in our history that is based closely on the type of events that actually happened during WWII to SOE agents. Although Tess and Theo are fictional, they feel so authentic. The author has really researched this subject well, and it makes for a very good read. The story has several times lines for Tess, Theo and Eddie, and covers numerous issues such as homosexuality, class, women’s roles as perceived by men as well as the treatment of civilians in occupied areas. A thought provoking read, so well written, and one of the better books on this subject.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

‘The Shock of the Light’ is an incredibly powerful story of twins, Theo and Tessa, growing up in 1930s Cambridge, whose war experiences are very different and equally damaging. Whilst Theo takes the path of RAF Spitfire pilot, Tessa is secretly recruited by the Special Operations Executive and finds herself behind enemy lines in France. Almost bilingual, thanks to her French mother, she finds it relatively easy to adjust to rural French life whilst awaiting instructions from London on how to disrupt life for the German occupiers. Lori Inglis Hall has clearly thoroughly researched the lives of the SOE women and uses her knowledge to build a convincing picture of their very dangerous lives. And, without giving away the plot, the author makes sure that we are always aware of this risk.

Whilst the first half of the novel focuses on Tessa, the second sees the war and its aftermath from Theo’s viewpoint. He is one of the so-called lucky ones – it’s almost a miracle that he has survived the war physically, albeit with a permanent limp. However, psychologically it’s a different matter. Haunted by the past and looking for answers that no one will supply, much of life after the war is coloured by the guilt he feels at being alive, his desperation for Tessa, and his terror of being exposed as homosexual.

The final section of the novel introduces Edie, a PhD student focusing on the SOE who is intrigued by the lack of information on Tessa. After an introduction to Theo, with his support she follows various lines of enquiry and much of Tessa’s tale emerges after decades of murky inference. The final pages are extremely well judged and a moving tribute to all those who disappeared during the course of WW11. A really good read; well written and full of absorbing detail.

My thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is possibly the best book I've read this year. I wanted to not stop reading it - it is so good; but I also wanted to take my time, and savour it. A pair of twins become separated during World War II - Theo joins the RAF: Tessa joins the SOE, and disappears. What happened to her, the secrets, subterfuge, the damage all follow.

The characters all seem real, there is a real 'sense of place' about the locations. It is a brilliant and personal story, and extremely well-written.. I was surprised to learn it is her first novel. Everyone - please read it.

With many thanks to NetGalley and The Borough Press for an ARC.

What a fabulous book. I am sure it will be a great success when published early next year and I’ll be reminding you all to go and buy a copy!
Tessa and Theo are twins, born in the 1920s to a pacifist father and a French mother. They grow up inseparable until their paths diverge at University, Theo to Cambridge and Tessa to the Sorbonne, where women could get degrees in the 1930s. Something awful happens to Tessa, which shifts her relationship to Theo, and then war breaks out.
The story which unfolds from this point is astonishing, and based on research the author has completed about British women sent behind enemy lines. Tessa returns to France to pass information back to England. She never returns to Theo after the war.
A PhD student, Edie, comes to Theo when he is much older and is researching Tessa. Will this give him a chance to find out what happened to her? Theo has lived a complicated life, personally and professionally and has never been able to find out what happened to his beloved twin.
This is a meticulously crafted, beautiful book, which doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war, but also has love at its heart. It made me cry, which is always a sign that I am immersed in the lives of the characters. Wonderful.
Thanks to Harper Fiction for the ARC of this book.

What an interesting, gripping, humbling story this is of people risking their lives in war, not on the battlefield but behind the scenes as covert agents. It’s a really well told tale of twins, Theo and Tessa, who have a French mother and want to do their bit in the war. Tessa’s story as an agent on the ground in occupied France is shocking and eye opening and full of bravery and humanity. The story moves forward through the 20th century to a satisfying conclusion.

An absorbing page turner, I couldn't put this book down.

Covering several decades, we follow the story of twins Theo and Tessa, especially during WW2.

This was not a typical war story, it really had me gripped.

I thought that I understood everything about WWII but this book showed me even more. It was an emotional journey of the human side of the war which was very enlightening. I so wanted it to be wrong and that Tess was alive at th end but the story revolved in a true to llife fashion. ZI thought that the notes at the end added a lot to back up what had been read.
The descriptions of life, environments and emotions were exceptionally well written by this excellent author and I will cvertainly look out fo rmore by Lori in future. I would like to think that there is going to be a follow up to this story as the way it ended I wanted more.

I am SO glad I requested this book - it really is an exceptional debut. Evocative, emotional, tense and gripping, The Shock of the Light has it all. As I neared the end, plans had to be cancelled as it became impossible to stop reading. A massive recommendation from me, and in close contention for my book of the year.

The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall
This is a story mainly set during the Second World War about twins who are torn apart by the war. The bond between he two is beautifully evoked and you are instantly drawn into their lives. The story is in 4 parts in the first two parts you meet the twins and part three is set decades later and focuses on a PhD student investigating the role of women during the Second World War and in Part 4 we return to Tessa’s story.
I became deeply involved with Tessa’s story and her decision to place herself in danger as a member of SOE in France. Theo’s story I felt could have been developed a little more fully in the second part of the book and in part 3 many years later we can piece together the events which are alluded to in the earlier parts.
I was thoroughly impressed with the story and would recommend it highly to those who appreciate historical novels and have enjoyed novels such as The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. This novel deserves to be a great success and I will be highly recommending it at my various book groups.
Many thanks to the author, the publishers and to Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

This was an absorbing story, based around the French resistance during WW2 and the involvement of the British. It was a very sad story in many ways, with people trying to help win the war against extreme odds from the enemy as well as their own country. A researcher wants to write the story and what she finds, brings relief to some and memories of lives wasted.

If like me you have read WW2 books such as “The Nightingale”, then you will definitely enjoy “The Shock of the Light” which tells the story of female SOE agents during the Second World War.
Tessa and Theo are twins and extremely close. When war breaks out Theo joins the RAF, flying Spitfires and Tessa works as a secretary in the Foreign Office despite her Sorbonne degree. However it becomes clear that the twins have lost some of their closeness’s, particularly after Tessa’s time in Paris in the late 1930s. Both have secrets but are fearful to reveal them to each other.
When Tessa is recruited to the SOE due to her fluency in French, Theo and their parents cannot be told because of the secrecy of the work.
The first part of the book is told from Tessa’s point of view and is extremely atmospheric, convincingly conveying her life as an agent in war torn France, the fear of betrayal being ever present.
After the war Theo tries to find out what has happened to his beloved sister but to no avail until Edie, a PHD student researching the SOE women, meets up with him and decides to look into what life was like for Tessa during the war and why she did not return to her family as a heroine.
Theo has almost lived his whole life not knowing about her last days as he has been too scared to find out and it takes Edie, an outsider, to help him gain some closure.
I loved the two main characters in the book and the fact that they were twins made it all the more interesting. They were both compassionate and brave, living through difficult times with extreme fortitude.
This is an extremely well researched and compelling first novel. The author knows just how much factual information to put in to the book without slowing down the plot. I will certainly be looking out for any further novels by Lori Inglis Hall.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advanced copy.