[1] Ræder was appointed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1938, and served as secretary in London from 1938 to 1939, thus becoming the first female Norwegian diplomat.
26–29 In April 1940, after the German invasion of Norway, Gudrun Martius made her way to Stockholm, where she worked a period for the Norwegian embassy.[3]: pp.
269–272 She eventually moved to London, where both her sister and her future husband Johan Georg Ræder were stationed at the embassy.
420–427 Having married Ræder in 1940, she continued working for the Ministry, and from 1941 to 1943 she was personal secretary for the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trygve Lie.
The book became noted for reporting about warning messages received at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of the German invasion of Norway in 1940.