Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police

At least 20 officers from two British police units infiltrated activist groups and entered relationships with women, including Donna McLean. Her memoir Small Town Girl reclaims the truth and exposes the corruption and abuses towards women in the system.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 03 February 2022
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division

You live with someone for two years and then, seemingly overnight, they vanish from your life. Over 40 years, two British police units engaged in undercover operations to infiltrate activist groups. At least 20 of those officers intentionally targeted women and entered into relationships with them. One of those women was me. This is my story.

Men authored the police files, crafted the scripts, and shaped the headlines. Men wrote the court orders to render us anonymous, and they will preside over the upcoming public inquiry. In a system that fails to recognize women, we must struggle to be heard. When they steal your identity, you must reclaim your voice.

Learning the truth nearly shattered me—but an accidental activist was born. A voice at the center of the Spy Cops scandal. The great love story of Donna McLean's life wasn't just built on lies, it was one. With an inquiry underway, Small Town Girl is a reclamation of a truth that was ruthlessly buried.

McLean excels in resolving a mystery even more profound than her fake lover's identity: who she is and how she can survive such a devastating shock. For this and more, this is one not to miss. - Irish Times

It reads like a movie... absolutely astonishing. - Lorraine Kelly (on Lorraine)

Mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, shocking, and beautifully written. - Chris Atkins

Utterly compelling from the first page. - Kerry Hudson

Donna McLean experienced the stuff of nightmares. But this profoundly compelling memoir reclaims the truth with eloquence and guts. - Wendy Erskine

Bold and brave, Donna McLean's courageous and vivid Small Town Girl is both a timely exposure of corruption and a searing story of emotional betrayal. - Catherine Taylor

Small Town Girl is a revelation, it is a brilliant and brave quest for truth, I found it deeply moving.

Weight: 406g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529379853