Maggi, Nicoletta Churchill's Angel

The Life of SIS Agent Hazel "Jicky" Smith

Her name was Hazel Smith, but everyone called her Jicky. She never revealed whether it was a pseudonym or a pretentious name, but it was also the name of her favourite perfume from the historic French perfume house Guerlain, founded in Paris in 1800. She came from a wealthy family and grew up in Hertfordshire, where she enjoyed a privileged life in a magnificent country house with domestic staff. In Paris, Jicky worked for the British Embassy in the turbulent days before the outbreak of World War II and played an important role as an undercover agent in the SIS (MI6) secret service. After the outbreak of war, Jicky showed extraordinary courage and suffered for her loyalty to the cause. She was once captured and tortured by the Germans; at the time, she was pregnant. Her partner was a member of the French Resistance, but she betrayed neither him nor her country. Her duties included using her previously acquired knowledge of graphology to decipher the personalities of individuals under observation through handwriting analysis. One of her professors was a student of Jung, who taught her psychoanalytic techniques for detecting truth and lies. She was even an expert on carrier pigeons, the unit known as MI14. After the war, she moved to a small town in Italy, taking her secrets and her unbroken zest for life with her.