When Erica Thomas died she left behind an archive dating back a hundred years. It revealed experiences her children knew nothing of. Erica came to England in 1938. Despite private schooling and Oxbridge studies, she struggled to ‘become English’ and to belong. Always feeling an outsider, her career nonetheless drew her to the dark heart of Cold War science; she faced compromise, fear and betrayal. Increasingly her psychological struggles reflected the trauma of world events. Spanning 70 years, travelling from Hungary to Britain, via America, Antarctica and outer space, Voyageuse reveals one woman’s ordinary life, lived through extraordinary times.