'A secret agent is like a novelist – watching, constantly, but in a clandestine way so that associates don’t suspect the close observation and dissection of their lives. Similarly, a child sent to boarding school learns to watch and fit in, chameleon-like. It makes perfect sense that the author of a boarding school memoir – the wholly compelling Bad Behaviour – would next turn her attention to espionage. Spy work is absolute crack for novelists.' (Introduction)