The Last Secret Agent

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Synopsis

The astounding true story of one of the last female special operations agents in France to get out alive after its liberation in WWII.

Born in 1921, Pippa Latour became a covert special operations agent who parachuted into a field in Nazi-occupied Normandy. Trained by the British, Pippa was lauded for her fluency with languages and her coding ability – attributes she put to remarkable use when she posed as a teenage soap-seller, often selling her wares to the German soldiers and sending back information via code to England.

Incredibly brave – Pippa knew she could be instantly shot if her cover was blown – she concealed her codes on a piece of silk that she threaded through a shoe lace and wore as a hair tie. She bicycled around the region, often sleeping rough and foraging for food.

During her time in Normandy, Pippa sent 135 secret messages conveying crucial information on German troop positions in the lead-up to D-Day. Pippa continued her mission until the liberation of Paris in August 1944.

For decades Pippa told no one – not even her family – of her incredible feats during WWII.

Now, for the first time, her story can be told in full.

Synopsis source: The StoryGraph

What pattern is that?
The swatch in the background is for my upcoming Elara Baby Blanket pattern, coming soon, so stay tuned! The candle coaster is the Marigold Boho Coaster (petals version), free on the blog!

Review

Genre(s): Memoir, History, Non-Fiction, WWII
HB&W Rating: 5 stars
View on StoryGraph, Goodreads
Buy on Barnes & Noble, Amazon

This was a bit of a slow start as we get through Pippa’s early life, and I wasn’t in the right head space originally to read this when it arrived on my doorstep, so I paused it for a bit. However, Pippa’s story called to me and when I picked it back up at about 30% in, things picked up dramatically. Pippa’s story is incredible and just exactly what I needed to restore my resolve in light of the current events here in the US. It was a fitting thing to read during the State of the Union earlier this week, my own small form of resistance.

The book details her early life, training, and her experiences acting as a radio operator in occupied France. Pippa’s voice is very straight-forward. Not one to embellish, her recollections are precise and to the point. She describes things she saw that haunted her as well as the horrors she became inured to, and the PTSD (though they hadn’t named it yet) of living on afterwards. Her courage, resolve and honor come through and I’m so glad to have been able to read her incredible story. She must have been an amazing woman, the last secret agent of SOE Section F.

If you enjoy stories of inspiring women often left out of the history books, Pippa’s story is a must-read.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

Until next time,

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