An Intriguing Life: A Memoir of War, Washington, and Marriage to an American Spymaster

Readers eager for secret-spilling must content themselves instead with these engaging home and hearth reminisces from the veteran of Britain%E2%80%99s WWII all-female naval brigade who later became the wife of CIA Director Richard Helms. After moving to the US and, after four children, ditching an emotionally distant first husband, she marries Helms, who directed the agency under Presidents Johnson and Nixon. She parcels out a plethora of stories and the occasional tidbit about life among the Washington glitterati. Although Helms sometimes slides into a wearying round of name-dropping, she serves up perceptive accounts of her sojourn in pre-revolution Iran as well as her work as a Smithsonian radio host and environmental activist. She dishes on congressional efforts to force Richard to own up to CIA excesses during the Cold War, yet throughout remains a model of discretion. Helms adds little to what is known about her husband%E2%80%99s tenure at the CIA or well-known episodes like Watergate , but she emerges as a pioneering woman who seized her destiny at a time when women were slowly beginning to transcend expectations placed upon them to meet the fresh demands and challenges of a new era. (Dec.)