In the 1950s and ’60s, Sarah Gainham was a well-known journalist and author of spy thrillers, set in central Europe — where she lived for 50 years. Born Rachel Stainer, she left London after the war, never to live in England again.
With her journalist husband, Antony Terry, she moved in interesting circles in post-war Vienna and Berlin. He was a friend of Ian Fleming and the couple both had connections with MI6. It is said that it was Gainham who drew Ian Fleming’s attention to the Soviet agent Emma Wolff, the basis for the unforgettable Rosa Klebb in From Russia, with Love.
This world of spies and espionage in post-war central Europe was the background to her first five novels, written in the late ’50s. But the novel that made her name was the 1967 title, Night Fall on the City. The first of a trilogy, followed by A Place in the Country (1968) and Private Worlds (1971).
This story of love and collaboration in Nazi-occupied Vienna was a huge bestseller when first published, remaining top of the New York Times bestseller list for several months. Until recently it was largely forgotten, like its author, who died in Austria in 1999, but now it has been republished.
