Code of Silence

‘A fascinating read about the women at the heart of Australia’s covert war operation. These women, who kept silent for 40 years about the undercover operations that helped change the course of WW2, should be honoured and their work known. It’s time their part in Australia’s top secret wartime operation is properly told.’

‘When the Second World War erupted in 1939, Australia’s women declared that rather than stand behind their men, they wanted to stand with them. Diana Thorp’s lively account of the women entrusted with transmitting and keeping Australia’s war secrets deftly blends national and personal histories to tell their extraordinary stories.’

Diana Thorp has scaled a pyramid, excavated a Bronze Age palace and been threatened by a deadly war spy. She also wrote a thesis on forgotten women that almost included a sealed section, all in pursuit of a good story. A journalist, historian and teacher, Diana has worked for The Australian, including its weekend magazine, and The Times in London. She has an honours degree in History from Monash University, where she specialised in Egyptian history. After lecturing in journalism for many years, her passion for history inspired her to become a history teacher, and she now teaches at a girls’ school in Melbourne. Her work appears widely in Australia and beyond, and her feature article on Australian World War II spy Nancy Wake, whose wartime story was then little known, inspired this book.