I was looking for a holiday read and I found one. Restless is perfect for lounging on the sunbed beside the swimming pool; it's an undemanding although enjoyable novel for those of you who like a decent helping of World War II espionage.

Ruth is a single mother working as a language teacher in Oxford. It's the legendary hot summer of 1976. She's in regular contact with her mother Sal, a widowed pensioner who, although eccentric, has lead an apparently unordinary life. Sal suddenly drops the bombshell that her name is really Eva Delectorskaya, that she's of Russian origin and, most shockingly, that she was recruited as a British spy in 1939. Eva's mysterious past provides the basis for Restless, with chapters alternating between her story and Ruth's.

Restless is very well written and there's some interesting characters; Eva and Ruth are both feisty, and there are some well drawn men too; particularly the arrogant and oily Romer, Eva's boss, sometime lover and would be nemesis. He's such a deceptive man that I'd be tempted to strangle him if I ever crossed him in real life; although he's so greasy he'd probably just slip out of my hands. If you're looking for authenticity, Eva's life as a spy is also artfully chronicled. Beginning with her recruitment and early training there's some observant touches - the double passwords and secret meetings between agents, their endless cat and mouse games. A rising star in espionage, Eva becomes part of a secret propaganda war; in an attempt to coerce America into joining the Allies, radio and press communications are infiltrated, inventing small untruths to spread around the media. For Eva, this only succeeds in dropping her into deeper and deeper water.

There's more to Restless though than espionage. It did cross my mind that the spread of untruths in 1940s progaganda has some similarities with the easy dissemination of misinformation on the web of today, but I'm not going to go there, although I am tempted to say that Restless does subtly delve into the theme of communication as a whole; Eva's wartime exploits and Ruth's work as a language teacher is a key to this, as is the realisation that she has never really connected much with her mother to be so completely oblivious of her past. But perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Still, definitely a book to pack in your hand luggage for that poolside reading.