Agent Zo cover art

Agent Zo

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2025

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Agent Zo

By: Clare Mulley
Narrated by: Clare Mulley, Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025: 'A masterfully written biography... inspiring and powerful'

'Gripping, moving and important' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

'Agent Zo is a triumph. Absolutely essential reading' HALLIE RUBENHOLD

'The astonishing story of an extraordinary woman' JONATHAN FREEDLAND

Agent Zo tells the incredible true story of Elżbieta Zawacka, the WW2 resistance fighter known as 'Zo'. The only woman to reach London from Warsaw during the Second World War as an emissary of the Polish Home Army command, Zo undertook two missions in the capital before secret Special Operations Executive training in the British countryside.

As the only female member of the Polish elite Special Forces - the SOE-affiliated 'Silent Unseen' - Zo became the only woman to parachute from Britain to Nazi German-occupied Poland. There, whilst being hunted by the Gestapo (who arrested her entire family), she played a key role in the Warsaw Uprising and ultimately in the liberation of Poland. After the war, Zo was demobbed as one of the most highly decorated women in Polish history. Yet the Soviet-backed post-war Communist regime not only imprisoned her but ensured that her remarkable story remained hidden for over forty years.

Now, through new archival research and exclusive interviews with people who knew and fought alongside Zo, Clare Mulley brings this forgotten hero back to life, transforming the way we see female agency in the Second World War.

'Deeply researched and written with verve... thoughtful as well as action packed' The Times Europe Great Britain Military Women War Imperialism Inspiring Thought-Provoking Soviet Union

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Critic reviews

Gripping, moving and important: an amazing and until-now neglected story of female WW2 heroism and secret derring-do. This tale of the resistance fighter Agent Zo is amazingly told and deeply researched by the excellent historian of WW2 espionage Clare Mulley.
Agent Zo is a triumph. The deftly told life of this remarkable heroine helps restore women to their rightful place in the record of the Second World War. Absolutely essential reading.
A remarkable story of resistance, elegantly told
This is a terrific story, told with passion and authority, about a Polish woman resistance fighter of extraordinary courage and ingenuity. Not simply a page turner, this is an important addition to the literature of World War Two, a story for our times about female heroism which should be widely known
Clare Mulley tells the tale of the remarkable Elzbieta Zawacka with as much flair, passion and insight as her extraordinary heroine deserves. Recognition for Agent Zo's astonishing courage and immense achievements are clearly long overdue, but Clare Mulley vividly and compellingly brings her back to life in what has to be, until now, one of the great untold stories of the war.
Agent Zo is the astonishing story of an extraordinary woman - for so long silent and unseen but now, thanks to Clare Mulley's forensic research and razor-sharp eye for detail, no longer forgotten.
In this gripping, forensically researched biography [Mulley] illuminates the awe-inspiring lives of Zo and her sisters-in-arms.... Clare Mulley is a consummate storyteller.
Page-turning ... fascinating ... poignant ... This excellent account is a tour de force
Deeply researched and written with verve... thoughtful as well as action packed.
Agent Zo is meticulously sourced and its novel-like narrative makes for a most enjoyable book
Written with controlled, unsentimental eloquence and style, [Agent Zo] offers unique and original insights into the vital, if previously unsung role of women in the defence of their homeland.
Mulley tells this story of industrial-strength heroism with sympathy and feeling
Puts any number of espionage thrillers into the shade... Clare Mulley has given us a fine piece of military history, Polish history, and women's history, and all written in a gripping and thoroughly enjoyable style.
A thrilling, consistently tense page-turner... [Zo] would have given the Mission Impossible crew a run for their money... Thrilling and powerful
Clare Mulley skilfully weaves together Zawacka's personal story with the broad sweep of events.... [Her] fascination with the role of women in wartime intrigue is both infectious and mesmerizing.
This is a masterfully written biography... inspiring and powerful
All stars
Most relevant
This is a fantastic book and takes you from the beginning to the end of ZOs Life she probably was Polands greatest Agent in WW2

Poland best female agent

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This book is amazing.

I was gripped by the story of her life and what she had gone through for payment. I often find myself wondering whether I would be brave enough to do a fraction what she did if we were called upon to do so in the future.

I liked it so much that I am now going to go and read her other books. 

So well written, you forget, it is not Fiction

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Detailed, and very moving, this was a journey through time. Excellent, and powerfully told. An emotional portrayal of the Polish women's fight and survival during an incredibly harrowing period of time.

Delightful biography

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Fascinating story of Elzbieta Zawacka. The only fly in the ointment, which for me was a very big one was the terrible pronunciation of her surname. This did spoil the book for me as her surname is regularly said, as well as a few other names. Most were well pronounced but to miss the c in Zawacka grated on me and spoilt my enjoyment till the end.

Incredible person

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Clare Mulley has done it yet again. She shines a light on the life and exploits of Agent Zo.

Clare has an amazing ability to bring people’s lives to life. Yet again she has made me care about a person I had no idea about. Always so engaging.

Another brilliant book from Clare Mulley

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