A Harrogate academic has published a book detailing the escapades of a team of female special agents during the Second World War.

Author, academic and historian Dr Kate Vigurs documents the heroic acts of the renowned Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Mission France: The True History of the Women of SOE.

While a few of the 39 women involved are recognised as war heroes, many have been forgotten.  The 'group biography' tells each individual's story.

Missions for these ordinary women-turned-agents involved parachuting into enemy lines, planting explosives, and fighting on the front lines. They were the only women in the Western Allies to bear arms during the entire war.

One such hero, Paris-born Noor Inayat Khan, was a poet, musician and writer. When the war came, she trained to become a wireless operator here in Harrogate and went on to be a notorious agent, evading the Gestapo for three years before her eventual capture in 1943.

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She has worked on a number of historical projects including writing television and stage scripts for historical adaptations and speaking on the national news.

She said she hopes to continue to study the SOE in the future and look into the lives of the many other agents who were a part of it.

The book has been praised by Military History and was also named book of the month by History Revealed. More about the novel can be found on Dr Vigurs' website.