history/geography

Item Description

"A true story of extraordinary bravery, betrayal, tragedy and triumph."—The Daily Telegraph

On a hot afternoon in August 1941, a twenty-four-year-old Belgian woman walked into the British consulate in Bilbao, neutral Spain, and demanded to see the consul. She presented him with a British soldier she had smuggled all the way from Brussels, through occupied France and over the Pyrenees. It is a journey she will make countless times thereafter, at unthinkable danger to her own life.

Her name is Andrée de Jongh, though she will come to be known as the "Little Cyclone" in deference to her extraordinary courage and tenacity. She is an inspiration. From nursing wounded Allied servicemen, de Jongh would go on to establish the Comet Line, the most famous escape line of the Second World War, one that saved the lives of more than eight hundred airmen and soldiers stranded behind enemy lines. The risks, however, would be enormous, the cost, unspeakably tragic.

Her story is shot through with the constant terror of discovery and interception—of late night knocks at the door, of disastrous moonlit river crossings, Gestapo infiltrators, firing squads and concentration camps. It is also a classic true story of fear overcome by giddying bravery.

Airey Neave served as an intelligence agent for MI9 in World War Two before later becoming Member of Parliament for Abingdon. The author of several highly acclaimed books on the Second World War, he died in 1979 in an IRA a car-bomb attack at the House of Commons.

Used - Like new

Published 2016. 224 pages. 5 x 0.7 x 7.7" Paperback

Item Special Note

Sales tax applies.

For the cheapest and quickest access to your books, plan to pick them up in Guerneville shortly after the sale.  (Times and location will be sent to book buyers.)

For those living in Sonoma County, CA, we offer personal contact-free delivery right to your door for only $10 (all going to Stewards). Instructions for delivery will be provided in the purchase confirmation email.

If arrangements for pick-up or delivery are not set up, books will be mailed to the address provided, and shipping costs will be charged.  If no address has been provided, the sale will be void in 30 days, the winner may treat their purchase as a tax-deductible donation to Stewards, and the book will be resold at a future event.