Noreen Patricia Riols (; born 8 May 1926) is a British novelist. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she worked for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

, a British espionage and sabotage organisation.

Life and career

Riols was born in 1926 in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, where her father was serving in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. She studied at the French Lycée in London, and at age 17 she applied to join the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

(Wrens). Because of her fluency in French, she was instead recruited into the F-section (F=France) of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The F-section recruited and trained spies and agents to be dropped into France where they would sabotage Nazi operations and support the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. SOE training took place at a number of locations around Britain including Beaulieu in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

. Riols was "trained and was eventually based at the organisation's headquarters in The Mall and at the training camp in the New Forest". Her role was to train agents in activities such as passing messages covertly or how to follow someone, and to act as a decoy in scenarios created to test agents. After the war she worked for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

and trained as a nurse. She lived in Romania, moving to Paris in 1956 where she worked as a journalist. She married a Frenchman and had five children, and holds dual French and British nationality. She wrote four novels (the Ardnakil Chronicles) based on her experiences in SOE: ''Katherine,'' ''To live again, Before the dawn'' and ''Where love endures''. In ''Eye of the Storm'' she wrote about how her faith helped alleviate her depression. In 2014 she published a memoir of her time in the SOE, ''The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish: my life in Churchill's school for spies''. The title of the book came from the cover she used during the war; because her work was covered by the

Official Secrets Act An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security but in unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secrets Act 1911) can include all infor ...

she told family and friends that she worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Riols has tried unsuccessfully to be recognised as a war veteran in France, but was told that Britain was not a war zone, and that the SOE was not an operational unit. Riols was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to UK/France relations and World War II education.

Publications

Non-fiction

* ''Eye of the Storm'' (1983) * ''Abortion: A woman's birth right?'' (1986) * ''Only the best'' (1987) * ''When suffering comes'' (1990) * ''My unknown child: a personal story of abortion'' (1995) * ''The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish: my life in Churchill's school for spies'' (2014)

Fiction

* ''Laura'' (1992) * ''Where hope shines through'' (1994) * ''Katherine'' (1994) * ''To live again'' (1995; republished 2013) * ''Before the dawn'' (1996; republished 2013) * ''Where love endures'' (1997; republished 2013) *''Autumn sonata'' (2014)

References

External links

*Noreen Riols: the spy who loved me
Podcast on The MothThe Wren who spread her wings and became a Secret Army member. 2013. Forces War Records website'Nobody must know what you do' – joining Churchill's 'secret army'. 2013. BBC Radio 4Seven Stories from Special Operations Executive. Imperial War Museum.
Stories of other SOE agents. {{DEFAULTSORT:Riols, Noreen 1926 births Living people British Special Operations Executive personnel 20th-century British novelists Crown Colony of Malta people 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers British women novelists British nurses Members of the Order of the British Empire British emigrants to France People with acquired French citizenship