Extracts from ‘Memories of a Mockingbird’. Written by the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Michelle Wein. It is a beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about how the ‘enhanced’ entered the devastation of World War II.

London, April 1942

How did I end up here? How is it that I am standing on the platform at Euston Station waiting for a train to Scotland to complete my training with Churchill’s Secret Army? I started out as a singer in the bars and nightclubs of Paris, but my talent for languages and my passion for a free France brought me to the attention of La Résistance. They got me to England and to the Special Operations Executive.

And so I stand in the cold London rain, smoking a cigarette, and waiting for the train to arrive. My name is Mimi Dubois, and I am not prepared for how my life is about to change.

I head towards the 3^rd Class carriage towards the rear of the train. At the very rear of the train is a freight car guarded by two soldiers, I assume that it must be some kind of mail car until I walk by its open doors and spot inside more soldiers and a number of oil drums all stencilled with a white wolfs head and a serial number. However, what really draws my attention is the white swastika marking each of the drums.

It is with that troubling image in my head that I take my seat in the last compartment at the rear of the 3^rd Class carriage and light a cigarette. It is not long before I am joined by more passengers, three strangers who are destined to become my teammates in the future. And four more unlikely travelling companions you could not hope to meet.

Dr Henry Jackal is the first to take his seat. A quiet, softly spoken man of letters who spends a large amount of time with his nose in a book and looking nervously over the top of his glasses at the world around him. Next to join us is Sven Hyse, a robust Norwegian outdoorsman with strong calloused hands and a steely glare. We later discovered that he was a member of the Norwegian Resistance before being assigned to the new team, but I am getting ahead of myself.

We are finally joined by Miss Madeline Forsyth. Dressed in her ATS uniform and looking every inch the model woman at war from the recruitment posters. And with her cut glass English voice she really was the stereotypical Home Front girl doing her bit, but again we later discovered that all was not what it first seemed. Then there was me, looking like a travelling lady at first glance. But my French accent and upon closer inspection, slightly threadbare and regularly repaired dress would mark me out as not quite a lady.

It was not a routine journey out of London, the train had to stop several times due to the Luftwaffe’s bombing raids. Every time the train would go blackout dark for several minutes and we would all hear the sound of explosions in the distance. At one point the train stopped at a station that was not within the schedule, Madeline pulled down the window and had a look about and informed us all that we were at Bletchley Station. There were sounds of someone boarding the train and then we were off and on our way again.

Five minutes out of Bletchley Station the train is forced to stop once more. The lights go out and we can all hear the far off sound of propeller planes drawing closer, and then the petrifying sound of bombs falling nearby. We sit in uncomfortable silence listening helplessly to the sound of explosions getting closer, praying that it will not be the last sound that we hear. Dr Jackal, in particular, seems very affected by the tension and begins to mutter to himself.

The world turns upside down. We are thrown about like rag dolls as the carriage is blown off of the tracks, and I slam my head off of the carriages ceiling. The last thing that I see before I pass out is the remnants of the freight car and a strange, pulsing blue energy emanating from it and washing over us.

Hanslope Park, June 1942

That morning I awoke strapped to a hospital bed in a private room, in an unknown location. Slowly, memories of the accident solidified in my mind. Along with stark images of the exploded freight car and the strange blue, pulsing energy. When I focus on it I can still feel the pulsing, separate and distinct from the thumping of my heart. I become aware that there is someone else in the room with me and I open my eyes, the nurse smiles one of those bedside smiles and then dashes out of the room.

Moments later, she returns with a Doctor. He introduces himself as Dr Chapman and skips through a series of questions to ascertain how I am feeling both physically and mentally. He asks me how much I can remember of the accident and in particular the aftermath. I ask him where I am and he tells me that he is not at liberty to say. I ask him the date and again he tells me that he is not at liberty to say. He does all of this with his bedside smile fixed in place. I would ask him if he has received training in bedside smiling, but I guess that he is not a liberty to say.

A number of days pass, I am unsure of how many as I pass in and out of consciousness as my body heals itself, during which I am visited by the good Doctor and his team frequently. They take many readings from the equipment that I am connected to and ask me a number of questions repeatedly. On one of these visits, I ask Dr Chapman why I am restrained. He looks at me with his best bedside smile and says for your own safety. I imply that it is also possibly for his safety as well.

Finally something breaks the monotony of my days, I receive a visit from a Colonel Lambert. He is very polite and asks how I am feeling, but beneath the thin veneer of calm he seems uncomfortable with some of his own conversation. He asks me what specifics that I remember of boarding the train, which I thought was an interesting question and one that I hadn’t been asked so far. I told him about the oil drums and he nodded as if pleased that I had spotted them. He revealed that the drums were an unknown substance captured from a Nazi research base that had been overrun by Allied forces. He believes that they were researching some kind of Nietzschean Ubermensch, or super soldier.

He goes on to say that all of the captured substance was destroyed in bombing, he also believed that the bombing was just an unfortunate coincidence. A stray payload dumped by the Luftwaffe hit the train. What he then said chilled my blood and excited me simultaneously. He said that the Doctors believed that we had been altered by our exposure to the substance, and that we might have unknown powers as a result.

He carried on saying something about the war effort and being the best hope of defeating the Nazis, but I had stopped listening. I had travelled to England to be trained by the SOE so that I could help in some small way to bring peace to my beloved France, but now chance had given me the opportunity to really turn the tide of Nazi oppression and reach the goal of a free France. When he asked me if I would join his project and sign the Official Secrets Act, of course I said yes!

That very afternoon we are released from our restraints and walked through what I now know to be the manor house of Hanslope Park. It is good to walk in the sunshine and smell the fresh country air, we are shown through the grounds to a quiet area behind the house to a large hut. The hut is nestled into the grounds and along with a large area of ground behind it, including a large barn, is fenced off from the rest of the country estate.

When I enter I am pleased to see that Dr Jackal, Sven and Madeline also survived the accident. I prepare us a lunch in the huts kitchen while we exchange experiences and enjoy each other’s company. That evening we are visited by Dr Chapman, he tells us that it has been almost six weeks since the accident, and that now we are within the Program we will have access to news of the outside world. This greatly pleases Sven who has been apparently asking about Norway since he came too.

Dr Chapman also tells us that as of tomorrow morning we will be put through a rigorous testing programme. This will involve strenuous physical and mental testing to see if the medical staff can ascertain what, if any, changes there have been to our abilities. The next few weeks we gain a greater appreciation for the fate of a lab rat. We are subjected to a barrage of tests, but during the days of testing I begin to realise that I can almost tell what the medical staff who are touching me are likely to do next.

On a couple of occasions, I even correct the nurses on the procedure that they are carrying out. Once this happens I begin to be questioned about my medical training, I have only ever been trained in basic first aid but I seem to have a through understanding of the advanced procedures that they are carrying out. One day of testing and questions stretches into the next, and then the one after that until it becomes an almost mundane existence. One day does stand out from the rest during that period of testing, it was the first day that Mr Hades visited.

Sergeant McKay was putting Madeline, Sven and me through our paces whilst Dr Jackal was in the barn having one of the numerous medical examinations that we all had to undergo. We all heard a nurse scream within the barn and then a most hideous creature appeared in the doorway of the barn. Clutched to the creatures chest was one of the doctors and as soon as it was out in the open it threw the doctor to the floor and ran for the tree line.

I have no idea what compelled me to follow, but I did. As I ran after the beast, for surely that was what it must be, I noticed to my horror that it was wearing similar clothes to those of Dr Jackal. I followed it at a distance and watched it enter the wood. I remained at the edge of the trees not wishing to surprise it. Minutes passed without a sound and then suddenly Dr Jackal appeared several yards away looking stunned and confused.

I helped him back towards the others, we were met halfway by two doctors and several armed soldiers. We didn’t see Dr Jackal for a couple of weeks after the incident, and when we asked Dr Chapman about him we were told that he was being monitored for his and our safety.

Hanslope Park, July 1942

After four weeks of training we have all begun to use our abilities at will. I can mimic another person’s skill if I make bodily contact with him or her first, the skill stays with me for several days and during the course of testing the duration was extending. Madeline can turn herself into a shadow and control temperatures in a localised area, while Sven is able to transform himself into animals that he has encountered. We are still none the wiser what Dr Jackal or his alter ego Mr Hades can do, and to be quite honest with you we were all a bit scared to find out.

Once Dr Jackal re-joined us, the mood seemed to be subdued for a while, he is a lovely man but I think that we were all concerned about his friend. Little did we know what the future would bring!

Colonel Lambert visited with us one lovely summers evening and told us that he was very pleased with our progress, he also told us that we would need to complete basic training before he would be willing to put us into the field.

Therefore, the following morning we met Sergeant McKay outside the hut and he began a rigorous programme of physical exercise culminating in a race around an assault course. I decided to cheat and ‘borrowed’ his skills so that I could get a good time. Madeline and Sven did very well without resorting to cheating, and poor Dr Jackal found it a struggle. Oddly enough, Sergeant McKay didn’t push him very hard.

For the rest of the week we are taught skills useful to an infiltration unit. Firearms, unarmed combat, navigation, and lots more fitness work. Doctor Jackal is excused from the hand to hand combat training, Madeline very much holds her own and impresses Sergeant McKay and Sven actually beats the Sergeant. I told you that he had strong hands and a steely glare.