What to read this week: New books by Larry Loftis, Andrew S. Curran and Madhuri Vijay

CODE NAME: LISE: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy, by Larry Loftis. The story of Odette Sansom, a Frenchwoman employed by England as a spy in Nazi-occupied France, is the stuff of classic World War II thrillers. Plus, there's a romance with her handler, Capt. Peter Churchill. (Gallery, $27)

THE FAR FIELD, by Madhuri Vijay. In this Indian bildungsroman, a sheltered middle-class young woman from Bangalore travels north to the remote mountainous region of Kashmir, site of a long-standing guerrilla war. There she hopes to find a friend of her late mother's — and answers about her mother's death. (Grove Press, $27)

DIDEROT AND THE ART OF THINKING FREELY, by Andrew S. Curran. This enjoyable biography of French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-1784) engages with the life of this man who was imprisoned for his atheism — and with his ideas, which brashly challenged beliefs about religion, race, royalty, sex and morality. (Other Press, $28.95)