# Sarah Helm

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**Sarah Helm** (born 2 November 1956) is a British journalist and non-fiction writer. She worked for *[The Sunday Times](/source/The_Sunday_Times)* and *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)* in the 1980s and 1990s. Her first book *A Life in Secrets*, detailing the life of the secret agent [Vera Atkins](/source/Vera_Atkins), was published in 2005.[1][2]

## Biography

Sarah Helm was educated at [Millfield School](/source/Millfield_School) and [Girton College, Cambridge](/source/Girton_College,_Cambridge).[3] On completing her English studies at Cambridge, Helm became a reporter for *The Sunday Times*. In 1986, she moved to the newly founded *The Independent* where she wrote several official secrets articles. For her coverage of the Spycatcher controversy she received the British Press Award for Specialist Writer of the Year.[1] In 1987, she won the [Laurence Stern Fellowship](/source/Laurence_Stern_Fellowship), allowing her to work as an intern for *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*.[4] As *The Independent'*s Diplomatic Editor from 1989, she covered the fall of the [Berlin Wall](/source/Berlin_Wall), the [Gulf War](/source/Gulf_War) and developments in the [Middle East](/source/Middle_East). From 1995, she covered European affairs in Brussels.[1]

In 2007, Helm married her long-time partner, [Jonathan Powell](/source/Jonathan_Powell_(civil_servant)), who had been [Tony Blair](/source/Tony_Blair)'s chief of staff since 1997.[5]

Helm's first book, *A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE* (2005) traces the lives of missing female members of the [Special Operations Executive](/source/Special_Operations_Executive) and intricate details of the woman who searched for them. It was highly acclaimed by both *The New York Times* and *The Washington Post*.[2][6] Her play *Loyalty* (2011) is a semi-fictional view of the [Iraq War](/source/Iraq_War), said to have drawn on the views of her husband who was Tony Blair's chief of staff.[7] Her latest book, *[If This Is A Woman: Inside Ravensbruck: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women](/source/If_This_Is_A_Woman:_Inside_Ravensbruck:_Hitler's_Concentration_Camp_for_Women)* (2015), provides accounts of the lives and deaths of thousands of female prisoners in the [Ravensbrück concentration camp](/source/Ravensbr%C3%BCck_concentration_camp).[8]

## References

1. ["Sarah Helm, Writer"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160819135615/http://www.unitedagents.co.uk/sarah-helm). United Agents. Archived from [the original](http://unitedagents.co.uk/sarah-helm) on 19 August 2016.

1. Grimes, William (30 August 2006). ["Woman on a Hunt for Spies Who Didn't Come Home"](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/books/30grim.html). *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

1. "Tripos results in architecture, Oriental studies, law and English". *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*. 22 June 1978. p. 20.

1. ["Laurence Stern Fellowship at the Washington Post"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160422185330/http://nationalpress.org/awards/laurence-stern-fellowship-at-the-washington-post/). [National Press Foundation](/source/National_Press_Foundation). Archived from [the original](http://nationalpress.org/awards/laurence-stern-fellowship-at-the-washington-post/) on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

1. ["Sarah Helm on Tony Blair's Labour government"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/8633100/Sarah-Helm-on-Tony-Blairs-Labour-government.html). *[The Telegraph](/source/The_Telegraph_(London))*. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

1. Roosevelt, Selwa (27 August 2006). ["Bond, Jane Bond"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401089.html). *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

1. Benedictus, Leo (22 July 2011). ["What to say about ... Sarah Helm's Loyalty"](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jul/22/sarah-helm-loyalty-what-to-say). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

1. Reich, Walter (7 April 2015). ["'Ravensbrück,' by Sarah Helm"](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/books/review/ravensbruck-by-sarah-helm.html). *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

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