There’s a fine novel or film to be written or made telling the story of Kay Summersby (née MacCarthy-Morrogh), the west Cork woman selected to be Eisenhower’s driver in London but who, scandalously, quickly became his secretary/ constant companion/ closest confidant and (possibly) lover right through the war. But this isn’t it. MacManus relates the day-to-day details adequately, but the “wartime romance” never fully engages the reader. Which is a pity, because it’s a terrific story. MacManus’s effort is not helped by the appalling editing: many literals, words repeated, words left out, backward quote marks, lapses in continuity. Nor by the occasionally leaden prose: “It was before dawn and still dark.” This feels like a treatment for a film script.
