Helen Oldham

Helen Oldham is a writer and historian based in the Mayenne countryside of northwest France. Her work centres on the stories that rarely get told: the women who were sent behind enemy lines as secret agents, and the quiet corners of France where centuries of history hide in plain sight. Together with her husband David, she co-authors the Stone & Story Trail touring series, guiding readers through the landscapes, villages, and forgotten monuments of the French departments they call home. Full bio: Helen Oldham writes from a farmhouse in Colombiers-du-Plessis, a small commune in the Mayenne department of northwest France, where she and her husband David have made their home. Her solo work focuses on the women of the Special Operations Executive, the secret British organisation that recruited and trained female agents to operate behind enemy lines in occupied France during the Second World War. Her forthcoming book, The Women They Sent, traces the lives of these agents from recruitment through training, deployment, and, for many, capture and execution. It is the product of years of research into a chapter of history that was classified for decades and is still not widely known. With David, she co-authors the Stone & Story Trail series of touring books, which take readers on slow, detailed journeys through the French departments. Their Sarthe volume explores the Plantagenet heartland west of Le Mans, while Mayenne Meconnue, written in French, uncovers the history of their home department through its rivers, forests, and medieval towns. The books are written on location, researched on foot, and designed for readers who want to understand the places they visit rather than simply pass through them. Helen is a director of D&H Publishing International Ltd and a shareholder in CoreLogic AI Ltd. She and David publish all of their work through their own imprint.