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Synopsis

Operation heartbreak tells the fictional story of willie marygton, a career soldier who was too young for wwi and too old for wwii. born into a military family, willie's one goal in life is to take part in a battle, so he is exhilarated when he receives his commission, and is scheduled to leave for the western front on november 9, 1918. however, news of the armistice changes his orders, and he instead spends the next 20 years in various posts in india and africa, where his main occupation seems to be big game hunting and polo. with the rise of fascism, he is ready to resign his commission to fight in spain, but is persuaded otherwise and spends wwii training recruits, lamenting his military status. but in an ironic twist of fate, he does end up playing an important part in the war effort. first published in 1950, originally suppressed from publication due to its ties to the real, 'operation mincemeat'. based on the astonishing true story of efforts by british naval intelligence to conceal from the germans preparations to invade sicily in 1943. author duff cooper is said to have first heard a version of it from winston churchill one evening after dinner when he was ambassador in paris; it later formed the basis of the best-selling books the man that never was by ian colvin and operation mincemeat by ben macintyre, which in 2022 was made into a film starring colin firth and penelope wilton.

Item Description

First Edition 8.5" by 5" : 166pp, Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding, With Dustwrapper. The first edition, first impression of this work. With the publisher's original unclipped dust wrapper. Slight lean. Very good.