Born into the Scottish aristocracy, Lady Julia Lindsay MacKenzie Wallace Beaufort-Stuart, called Julie by her friends, bravely writes the story of her war work, knowing from the beginning that her life will soon be over. She narrates Part 1 of the novel. Pretty, smart, quick-witted, and feisty, Julie is also a born actress. Her talents, including her ability to speak fluent French and German, are spotted by the Special Operations Executive unit of the British secret war service which subsequently recruits her.

It becomes clear that Julie’s confession is not what it seems. The reader quickly picks up on the contradiction between what Julie says directly about herself and her reported actions. For example, Julie says she’s a coward and a Judas, but she tries to escape multiple times and she fights her captors whenever she gets a chance. Julie’s deception is even more astounding, considering that she reveals, at several points in her narrative, exactly what she is doing, in comments such as, “It’s jolly astonishing, really. YOU STUPID NAZI BASTARDS” (5).

Everything in Julie’s confession contains double-talk. During her literary conversations with von Linden, for example, she deliberately plays on his male ego, buying her more generous treatment and more time.