Jane Thynne is the author of fourteen novels, mostly set in 1930s and 1940s Europe. She has also written two alternative history dystopias, set in a Britain which never went to war, that were shortlisted for major American fiction prizes. After studying at Oxford, Jane joined the BBC as a director and producer in current affairs and on Timewatch. She has been on the staff of several Fleet Street papers, including the Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. As a broadcaster Jane has hosted her own Radio 4 show and appeared on numerous others, including co-hosting Start The Week. She appears as a consultant on a range of TV programmes about World War Two, specifically about life in Berlin, Nazi cinema, and the lives of influential women. Jane especially likes to explore the ‘hidden stories’ of WW2 that have still have ramifications for our lives today.
“Thynne has pulled off a new kind of spy novel: feminist, literary, morally challenging and thrilling.”- The Spectator
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The hidden histories of WW2 women
The lives of women in World War two have, for a long time, flown under the radar. Amid the masculine arena of war and politics, the influence of women – either heroic, or as a power behind the throne - has too often gone untold. Jane Thynne reveals the stories of several women whose actions, for both good and ill, had a profound influence on the course of the war.
What did Annelies von Ribbentrop, the wife of the German Foreign Minister, contribute to Nazi Germany’s decision to go to war with Britain?
How did the romance of Czech film actress Lidá Baarová lead to the Night of Broken Glass – the shocking 1938 pogrom of Jews across Germany?
How did Hedy Lamarr, the Austrian actress known as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, come to invent the basis for all Bluetooth and GPS navigation systems?
BERLIN: Spies and women's lives
Berlin been a magnet for British writers, from Christopher Isherwood to John Le Carré and Len Deighton. The city has been a crucible of European history, as well as a key centre for espionage.
Jane Thynne’s novels feature an Anglo-German spy, Clara Vine, who works as an actress at the famous Babelsberg film studios in the 1930s and 40s. Featuring real life figures, Third Reich VIPs, and authentic details of British espionage in Nazi Germany, they have been best sellers both in Britain and abroad. The series is in development for TV.
Jane will talk about her fascination for Berlin, the lives of women in prewar Germany and the real-life espionage stories of WW2.
Why we long for dystopia
Dystopia and Alternative history are the fastest-selling genres in publishing today. Readers have an insatiable appetite for stories of alternative worlds, and what used to be called science fiction.
From 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale to apocalyptic fiction such as The Road, novels have been the natural outlet for warnings of what lies ahead.
Jane Thynne has written fourteen novels set in 1930s and 1940s Europe but recently, she has published two novels of Alternative Fiction, Widowland and Queen High, under the pen name C.J.Carey. They are set in an alternative Britain, where WW2 did not take place and instead the nation has become a protectorate of Germany. Their heroine, Rose Ransom, is in charge of censoring the great works of English literature.
Queen High was named Book of the Year by the Telegraph, Financial Times and Guardian. Both Queen High and Widowland were nominated for the Philip K Dick and Prometheus awards.
Jane will talk about how an appetite for dystopia is a reflection of our nervous times and what lessons we can learn from studying History’s road less taken.