". . . masterful, evocative, and original." -Georgina Petty, journalist and author of Top Dogs
"A wonderful dance in a beautiful hall of mirrors taking the reader through the decades of glamour and war, love and espionage." -Sarah Ingham, PhD, author of The Military Covenant
Briggens House, Essex 1942, the other Bletchley Park - the one you have never heard of . . .
Briggens House, Essex 1940. An unassuming country house, home of the Polish Army in exile, houses in its basement a secret Special Operations Executive (SOE) unit where all the forged documents needed by the Allies are made. Here identities are created for agents dropped into enemy territory. Their lives depend on these documents looking authentic.
Peter and Elisabeth start an affair while working at Briggens House but lose touch soon after the war ends. Why then, forty years later, does she leave him something in her will?
Peter resolves to find out, discovering the extraordinary life she led after the war and the passionate affair that informed the choices she made and the person she became. But Peter, too, is changed by the journey, discovering new ways of seeing his past.
Using detailed research into the workings of this crucial but little-known SOE unit, Ipseity weaves a tender, passionate love story with the deception and intrigue of the fascinating world of wartime forgery.
"A captivating tale of love, war, and deception that transports you into a little-known part of WWII . . . you can almost smell the ink of forgery. Pither skilfully weaves the complexities of love and war into a story you won't forget. He is a true storyteller: masterful, evocative, and original. Just when you think you know where it's going, there's another unexpected twist-one that will keep you up late into the night!" -Georgina Petty, journalist and author of Top Dogs
"A wonderful dance in a beautiful hall of mirrors taking the reader through the decades of glamour and war, love and espionage." -Sarah Ingham, PhD, author of The Military Covenant
"Reading Ipseity, I was conscious of gaining unprecedented insights into the lives of my parents' and grandparents' generations-the world and the wars they grew up in and their everyday as well as existential concerns. The book is a joy-a deeply authentic story whose multiple layers and narrative strands draw together into a most satisfying conclusion. Deeply researched and deeply moving-a great book." -Steve Lunn, author of The Price of Dormice
"Love at first sight and the seductive secrecy of wartime undercover work, charged with shared passions for classical music. It's a rich, enthralling, and entertaining mix." -Michael Chance, artistic director, Grange Festival Opera
". . . a journey of discovery on many levels. Set against the backdrop, the tensions, and the uncertainties of war, Charles Pither beautifully explores and captures the poignancy and fragility of love. Sad but uplifting." -Jonathan Morrish, music journalist and CEO of MorrishComms
". . . a tale of love and loss, and the consequences, told with great skill. It revolves around the murky world of WW2 espionage of the Bletchley Park era, but of a much less well-known area. The narrator is a salty sea dog with his own stories, who now finds himself having to puzzle out a mystery of the past. Pither's laconic style is lightly spiced with brilliant descriptive passages, but it never loses pace and grips you to the end. Brilliant, a must read." -Colin Fergusson, FRCS retired orthopaedic surgeon
"With its layered narrative infused with themes of love, betrayal, and hidden truths, Ipseity is more than just a love story. It is a reflection on memory, identity, and the complexities of human relationships." -Lyn Peters, reader
"A masterclass in marrying passion, reflection, courage and wartime intrigue. The most engaging, enthralling, heartwarming, slow-burn of a novel you could hope to read. The author's carefully crafted love of the characters is addictive-you will be enchanted, intrigued and chuckle aloud at the subtle twists and turns of this original and charming novel. The polished prose, brilliant characterisation, meticulous research, and ingenious plot of this debut novel is both astonishing and utterly rewarding." -David Crwys-Williams, reader