Free (iTunes UK) Black Roses [Pre-WWII 1930s Berlin Anglo-German Actor Spy Thriller]

[ATDrake]

Black Roses by former BBC journalist and The Independent radio critic Jane Thynne (Wikipedia) is the 1st in her Clara Vine series of historical high society espionage thrillers (apparently with a few romantic elements) set in Germany during the lead-up to WWII, starring the eponymous Anglo-German film actress who is recruited to spy upon Nazi Party leadership in 1930s Berlin from her prestigious position at the UFA studios (Wikipedia), free courtesy of publisher Simon & Schuster UK.

This is the iTunes UK store's featured Free Book of the Week.

Currently free, probably just until Monday @ iTunes UK. Decidedly unfree elsewhere, but some price-drop-check linkage for Amazon UK (where hopefully enough UK-resident fellow MR members will do the Report A Lower Price thing that it drops over the weekend), B&N UK, and Kobo UK which may or may not possibly get this if the publisher decides to extend the freebie-ization period.

And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because even though it's probably only available free to a tiny subsegment of MR's member population, this is by far the niftiest-looking thing that's been offered in recent weeks, combining historical international film-making in the pre-Hollywood-dominance age, domestic/homefront-type espionage stuff, post-Weimar Republic transitional Berlin society leading up to the Nazi ascendancy which resulted in WWII, and a personal-ish look at the main figures behind it all, likely to be written by someone who not only actually Did The Research, but also probably has a decent grasp on literary ability, and I really wish it were offered in more places. Oh well, probably the library has them?

Enjoy!

Description
Terrifying secrets, torn loyalties, love versus duty, the gripping story of a young actress caught up in highly dangerous events in 1930s Berlin...

Berlin, 1933. Warning bells ring across Europe as Hitler comes to power. Clara Vine, an attractive young Anglo-German actress, arrives in Berlin to find work at the famous Ufa studios. Through a chance meeting, she is unwillingly drawn into a circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels, Anneliese von Ribbentrop and Goering's girlfriend Emmy Sonnemann. As part of his plan to create a new pure German race, Hitler wants to make sweeping changes to the lives of women, starting with the formation of a Reich Fashion Bureau, instructing women on what to wear and how to behave. Clara is invited to model the dowdy, unflattering clothes.

Then she meets Leo Quinn who is working for British intelligence and who sees in Clara the perfect recruit to spy on her new elite friends, using her acting skills to win their confidence. But when Magda Goebbels reveals to Clara a dramatic secret and entrusts her with an extraordinary mission, Clara feels threatened, compromised, desperately caught between her duty towards - and growing affection for - Leo, and the impossibly dangerous task Magda has forced upon her.