Biography of a secret agent, filmmaker, and socialite who “was always drawn to adventure, lured by the blurry beyond.”

Though hardly a household name, Marguerite Harrison (1879-1967) was at the center of consequential 20th-century global events. In her latest, Wallach, whose previous books include Desert Queen and The Richest Woman in America, tackles the life and professional contributions of Harrison, whose social pedigree and proficiency with multiple languages gave her international access and enabled her unlikely career in espionage. The daughter of a Maryland shipping magnate, by her late 30s, she was the widow of a stockbroker, a Baltimore socialite, and a society reporter for the Baltimore Sun. The first woman sent overseas as a military intelligence officer to spy for the U.S., she was also the first American woman to enter Germany after World War I. Harrison was later sent abroad to assess security situations in the newly independent Poland, the Baltics, and Russia, where she was detained for more than a year in the notorious Lubyanka prison. Later adventures took her to Manchuria, China, Turkey, and Persia, where she accompanied the Bakhtiari tribe on its annual 46-day migration across treacherous mountains. As “flirtatious in drawing rooms” as she was “unflappable in deserts,” Harrison met a full cast of international figures, including Queen Victoria, Leon Trotsky, Bertrand Russell, John Reed, Herbert Hoover, and King Faisal of Iraq. Wallach focuses primarily on Harrison’s spectacular yet largely unknown career in espionage. Her domestic life and family get only brief mentions, as perhaps befits her somewhat detached personality. Extensive endnotes make clear that the author relied heavily on Harrison’s own books, including her autobiography, There’s Always Tomorrow. Nonetheless, Wallach’s expert storytelling, which has the suspense and pacing of a good spy novel, is clearly her own, and it makes for engaging reading.

The globe-trotting exploits of “a confirmed wanderer” and top-notch spy finally get their due.