Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain’s crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called her “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.”

Lynne’s latest book, Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against the Nazis (Random House, March 2019), was an immediate New York Times bestseller. It tells the little-known story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, an elegant young Frenchwoman born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, who headed the largest Allied spy network in occupied France during World War II. She was the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war.

Before becoming a full-time author, Ms. Olson worked as a journalist with the Associated Press as a national feature writer in New York, a foreign correspondent in AP’s Moscow bureau, and a political reporter in Washington. She left the AP to join the Washington bureau of The Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House.