About this Event
Join us for the evening with Clare Mulley, an award-winning author from Great Britain, as she discusses her new book: “Agent Zo,” telling a true story about resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka, the only female member of the Polish elite special forces - the 'Silent Unseen’, and the only woman to parachute from Britain to enemy-occupied Poland to play a key role in the largest organized act of defiance against Nazi German occupation.
AGENT ZO tells the incredible story of courageous resistance fighter Elżbieta Zawacka, aka Elizabeth Watson but best known as ‘Zo'. During the Second World War, Zo was the only woman to reach London as an emissary of the Polish Home Army command, bringing vital microfilm. As the only female member of the Polish elite special forces - the 'Silent Unseen’ - she also became the only woman to parachute from Britain to Nazi-German-occupied Poland. There, while being hunted by the Gestapo, who arrested her entire family, she took a vital role in the most significant organized act of defiance against Nazi Germany - the Warsaw Uprising.
After the war, Zo was demobbed as one of the most highly decorated Polish women in history. Yet the Soviet-backed communist regime not only imprisoned her but also ensured that her remarkable story remained hidden. Now, through new archival research and exclusive interviews with people who knew and fought alongside Zo, Clare Mulley brings this forgotten heroine back to life.
'A terrific story, told with passion and authority. Not simply a page-turner, this is an important addition to the literature of WW2, a story for our times about female heroism’, Anne Sebba, Ethel Rosenberg; Jennie Churchill
'Deeply researched and written with verve. Thoughtful as well as action-packed’,
'Industrial strength heroism, told with sympathy & feeling’, The Literary Review
'Page-turning… Fascinating... Poignant... This excellent account is a tour de force’, Military History Matters
'Gripping, moving and important: an amazing and until-now neglected story of female WW2 heroism and secret derring-do. This tale of the resistance fighter Agent Zo is amazingly told and deeply researched by the excellent historian of WW2 espionage Clare Mulley’, Simon Sebag Montefiore, The World, a Family History; Young Stalin; Jerusalem
'Agent Zo is a triumph... Absolutely essential reading’, Hallie Rubenhold, The Five
'A terrific story, told with passion and authority. Not simply a page-turner, this is an important addition to the literature of WW2, a story for our times about female heroism’, Anne Sebba, Ethel Rosenberg; Jennie Churchill
'A fine piece of military history, Polish history, and women’s history, all written in a gripping style. Cries out to be filmed’, Andrew Roberts, George III, Churchill, Napoleon
'The astonishing story of an extraordinary woman’, Jonathan Freedland, The Escape ArtistNazi-German-occupied
Clare Mulley is an award-winning author focused on female experiences during the Second World War. Her books include AGENT ZO, about the only woman to parachute from Britain to enemy-occupied Poland, to play a vital role in the most significant organized act of defiance against Nazi German occupation, as well as THE WOMEN WHO FLEW FOR HITLER, THE SPY WHO LOVED and THE WOMAN WHO SAVED THE CHILDREN. , She is a recipient of the Polish honor, the Bene Merito, and the Daily Mail Biographers Club Prize.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 East 65th Street, New York, United States
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