The Making of a Secret Agent: Letters of 1934-1943

Frank Pickersgill inspired tremendous affection, admiration and love from his friends. He was an enthusiast for life, full of energy, who saw the world around him clearly--all these characteristics shine through in his writing.

In this book, Pickersgill tells the engaging story of his encounter with Paris in the late Thirties--Paris when it was a mecca for writers, artists and intellectuals from all over the world. But it also tells the darker story of his encounter with the Nazi regime and the impact this had on his pacifist convictions, changing him from an idealist into a man of action. He joins up, trains as a spy, parachutes behind enemy lines, is captured and, after daring and heroic attempts to escape, is executed in a German concentration camp.

The Making of A Secret Agent, told in his Pickersgill's own words and those of his friend George Ford, is a moving and tragic account of one man's confronting dark times earnestly and with convition.

"The story of an exhilarating life and an heroic, if tragic, death." (Winnipeg Free Press)

"A marvellous book, a Canadian classic." (Ramsay Cook Canadian Reader)

"An innocent's descent into Hades." (Barbara Amiel Macleans)