Between Silk and Cyanide
Memoir Intermediate Primary Sources
🇬🇧 British
SOE's 22-year-old codemaster fights to replace poem codes that were killing his agents — including the one he wrote for the girl he loved.
The Verdict
The secret war's signals, told by the brilliant, grieving young man who ran them. Leo Marks was barely in his twenties when he took charge of codes for SOE, and his memoir is a singular thing — funny, profane, and shadowed by the knowledge that a flawed cipher could get an agent tortured and killed. His campaign to replace insecure poem codes with safer systems is a genuine thriller; his account of the agents who went out and did not return is devastating. He also wrote the war's most famous code-poem, for a woman he loved.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The cryptographic side of the secret war
- Readers who want wit and grief together
- An insider's account of SOE's signals
- The story behind a famous wartime poem
Look elsewhere if you want
- Front-line combat
- A conventional, organised history of SOE
- Readers impatient with a digressive, personal voice
Why We Rated It 4.6
Historical Context
Marks served as codemaster for the Special Operations Executive, the British organisation that ran agents and sabotage in occupied Europe. He worked to improve SOE's ciphers, replacing memorised 'poem codes' with more secure one-time systems. His poem 'The Life That I Have' became famous through its wartime use. The memoir was published in 1998.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
HarperCollins / Free Press (1998)First edition.
PaperbackThe standard reading edition.
Read It Alongside
A Woman of No Importance Sonia Purnell · 2019 · ★ 4.5
D-Day Girls Sarah Rose · 2019 · ★ 4.2
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Agent Zigzag Ben Macintyre · 2007 · ★ 4.5
Popular History Collector's Corner
A recent title; inexpensive and easy to find. Check current listings. → Check listings on AbeBooks.
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0684867809
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What was Leo Marks's job in the war?
- He was the chief codemaker for SOE, responsible for the ciphers used by agents in occupied Europe.
- Did he write 'The Life That I Have'?
- Yes — the much-quoted poem was written by Marks and used as a wartime code, later widely associated with SOE agents.