Margaret Trant works as a secretary for a shipping office whose owner, Mr Plimpson, was a friend of her father. When her employer needs to move the premises to Deptford because the business is failing, Margaret decides to resign despite the financial uncertainty she and her domineering mother will face as a result. Unsuccessful in all her enquiries, Margaret begins to despair until she is handed a newspaper open at the recruitment page by a stranger on the tram. She presents herself at the offices in Whitehall and receives the offer of employment the next day. When she starts her secretarial job at Bureau 8, Margaret is surprised and delighted to find herself in an environment that she has so far only read about in magazines. Bringing different qualities than her male counterparts to the job, she soon finds herself promoted from occupying a mere desk job to being sent out undercover ... and into danger.

Written in the first person after the conclusion of the events detailed in the book, and therefore with a certain amount of foreshadowing, I enjoyed reading about Margaret becoming an *unlikely agent*. The feeling of time and place is acute – the author has clearly done her research, especially concerning the small everyday details a woman of that time would notice. Margaret is a strong, likeable and intelligent main character, and her narrative voice is well written, though much too detailed in places, slowing down the pace noticeably as a result. I can reconcile the pace with her being a careful and meticulous person, but there's no getting away from the fact that for me it really dragged in places. While the ending leaves open the prospect of a sequel, it also doesn't quite hang together for me, and there were several questions that remained unanswered; of course, this could be a ploy by the author to whet the appetite for the next book (if there is one), but to me it leaves an unsatisfactory feeling as I write this review. However, I would definitely read any sequel(s) if the author decided to continue Margaret's story and that of the other employees at Bureau 8. ( )