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Nadine Akkerman talks to Georgina Godwin
Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in 17th-century Britain
Hay Festival 2019,
The allegedly male world of the spy was more than merely infiltrated by women. This compelling and groundbreaking contribution to the history of espionage details a series of case studies in which women – from playwright to postmistress, from lady-in-waiting to laundry woman – acted as spies, sourcing and passing on confidential information. They acted out of political and religious conviction or to obtain money or power. Akkerman reveals the special roles of Royalist and Parliamentarian ‘she-intelligencers’ and their hidden world.
