The death of an eccentric recluse is rarely an event to be given more than a few lines in a local newspaper. But when, in September 2010, police were called to a tiny, cluttered flat in Torquay and discovered the body of local 'cat lady' Eileen Nearne, they also found a small bundle of possessions that told an amazing story.For Eileen Nearne had been an agent for the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, going undercover in Nazi-occupied France to send wireless messages of crucial importance to the Allies. Astonishingly, Eileen was not the only special agent in the family - her sister Jacqueline had also been an SOE. Rarely had two members of the same family sacrificed so much to such dangerous work.SISTERS, SECRETS AND SACRIFICE pays tribute to these fiercely patriotic women with hearts of courage, who fought for freedom at much personal cost. While Jacqueline narrowly avoided capture several times, tirelessly couriering secret documents for the resistance, Eileen was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo before being incarcerated at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was only 23.This is a true story of triumph and tragedy, of two sisters who sacrificed themselves to defend our freedom, who stood shoulder to shoulder during the darkest of days.

Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice: The True Story of WWII Special Agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne. by Susan Ottaway

Ottaway, Susan

Harper/Element

The incredible true story of British special agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne, sisters who risked everything to fight for freedom during the Second World War. When elderly recluse Eileen Nearne died, few suspected that the quiet little old lady was a decorated WWII war hero. Volunteering to serve for British intelligence at age 21, Eileen was posted to Nazi-occupied France to send encoded messages of crucial importance for the Allies, until her capture by the Gestapo. Eileen was not the only agent in her family; her sister Jacqueline was a courier for the French resistance. While Jacqueline narrowly avoided arrest, Eileen was tortured by the Nazis, then sent to the infamous Ravensbrvºck women's concentration camp. Astonishingly, this resourceful young woman eventually escaped her captors and found her way to the advancing American army. In this amazing true story of triumph and tragedy, Susan Ottaway unveils the secret lives of two sisters who sacrificed themselves to defend their country.

A Cool and Lonely Courage: The Untold Story of Sister Spies in Occupied France

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Little. Brown and Company

RAF "Pathfinders", British South American Airways was one of three state owned airlines established by the Civil Aviation Act of 1946 – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British European Airways (BEA) and British South American Airways (BSAA). Under Bennett’s direction BSAA was a dynamic, forward thinking company which not only pioneered the difficult and dangerous routes from the UK to West Africa, South America and to the Caribbean, but also took the lead in such things as the provision of frozen meals for passengers. It was one of the first airlines to show in-flight movies – nearly twenty years ahead of its rivals. The future looked bright for BSAA, but a handful of widely publicised fatal accidents, allegations of sabotage and several mysterious disappearances of aircraft, led to a widespread loss of confidence in BSAA. The most famous of these incidents were the disappearance of two Avro Tudor aircraft in the waters of the Bermuda Triangle and the loss of an Avro Lancastrian in the Andes in 1947. What happened to the Avro Tudors remains a mystery, although there are theories as to what caused the disappearances. Part of the Lancastrian Star Dust has recently emerged from the Andean glacier in which it was entombed for over fifty years and the reason for the crash has now been revealed. This has led to a renewal of interest in BSAA.  For a number of political and commercial reasons, these tragic occurrences were shamelessly exploited by the Ministry of Aviation and BOAC, and BSAA’s fleet was grounded. Without aircraft to fly, the airline was forced it into a merger with BOAC in 1949, thereby sealing its fate. There has never been a complete history of BSAA, although the histories of BOAC, BEA and British Airways have been well documented. The title, Fly with the Stars, is taken from the company's advertising slogan and the book itself will describe the airline's brief but full life, the challenges it faced in the post war boom in civil aviation, set against the background of the escalating Cold War, the Berlin Airlift, and the chicanery that eventually caused its demise. The book is written with the full cooperation of Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett's son and many former BSAA pilots, cabin and ground crew. It will appeal not only to aviation enthusiasts, but also to those readers who enjoy tales of mystery and political intrigue, and it will fill a gap left in the history of British civil aviation.

Fly With the Stars: British South American Airways, the Rise and Controversial Fall of a Long-haul Trailblazer

Engineering & Transportation

Ottaway, Ian

Transportation

Sutton Pub Ltd

By the time he was killed in September 1944, after directing a successful raid against the German towns of Rheydt and Munchen-Gladbach, Guy Gibson was one of the mo st highly decorated RAF officers of the Second World War. '

Dambuster: A Life of Guy Gibson VC

Pen & Sword Paperbacks

The book and film Carve Her Name With Pride have moved millions of men and women with their tale of incredible bravery and fortitude. The heroine Violette Szabo was an attractive young mother who volunteered for the Special Operations Executive, and after arduous training, parachuted into Nazi-occupied France. Captured dramatically by the Germans she was tortured and cruelly shot in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, aged a mere 23 years old. Inevitably fact and fiction have become confused in the past, but this well researched biography reveals the truth behind this remarkable and extremely brave young woman's story.

Violette Szabo : The Life That I Have

History

Military

Leo Cooper

Sisters, Secrets And Sacrifice

Charnwood

Violette Szabo: The life that I have

Violette Szabo worked with the British Special Operations Executive in an effort to infiltrate Nazi-occupied France, but was captured and executed at the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. This is the first full-length biography of Szabo since Minney's Carve Her Name with Pride appeared in the early 1960s. The narrative concentrates on Szabo's espionage activities and her fate after capture. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Violette Szabo: The Life That I Have

Leaders & Notable People

Naval Inst Pr

The story of Violette Szabo is one of the most extraordinary in the annals of World War II espionage and covert operations. Totally fearless and a dead shot, Violette Szabo volunteered to become part of the Special Operations Executive, Britain's premier sabotage and subversion organization of the time. On 7 June 1944, Violette left behind a two-year-old daughter to parachute into France on a special mission. Szabo and other British agents were assigned to organise French resistance fighters to hinder the advance of the SS Das Reich Division to the Normandy beaches. Unfortunately, Szabo's party was soon ambushed by the SS. Unable to walk due to a twisted ankle, Szabo covered the retreat of her comrades with machine-gun fire. Captured, she went through a series of interrogations and changes of confinement before ending up at Ravensbruck, the German all-women's concentration camp. She was finally executed on 26 January 1945. She was twenty-three years old. This exceptional work has been written with the assistance of Violette Szabo's daughter, Tanya, and unravels fact and fiction about one of the most fascinating characters of World War II.

Lume Books

The real story of one of the rare men to pilot Concorde... From the first time Concorde took to the skies on 2 March 1969 until its final flight on 26 November 2003, the supersonic jet captured the imagination of the public. When Air France and British Airways announced their decision to stop flying Concorde there was a feeling of sadness and disbelief amongst the fans of this beautiful aeroplane around the world. But what of the men who flew her? There were fewer Concorde pilots than US astronauts, but only a handful of them ever had public prominence. This is the story of one of those better-known pilots, John Hutchinson. From his birth in India in the final decade of British rule and his escape to England following the bloody battles that accompanied Partition, to the present day, this is the tale of John Hutchinson's exciting and sometimes precarious life, featuring near-death experiences and a life-changing personal tragedy. Praise for Susan Ottaway: 'A superbly interesting read, written about arguably the most eloquent of all Concorde pilot speakers. One of life's true gentleman and a superb pilot, it is a long overdue biography' - PPRuNe Susan Ottaway has had a lifelong enthusiasm for aeroplanes, books and twentieth-century history. She worked for four different airlines over a period of 20 years, mainly in the UK but also in Germany and Australia, and wrote her first book, a biography of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, before leaving the world of aviation. She has since written seven more books. She lives in Hampshire with Nick and their dog and three cats.

The Wind Beneath My Wings

Professionals & Academics

Hitler's Traitors -German Resistance to the Nazis is the story of the groups and individuals that opposed Hitler and his government and tells of their heroic, but largely ineffective, efforts to rid themselves of the most evil regime in modern times. They came from many different backgrounds -Protestant pastors, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemoeller; Catholic bishops such as Clements Galen, who was Bishop of Munster, and his cousin Konrad, Count von Preysing, Bishop of Berlin; politicians Otto Wels and Ernst Thalmann, students Hans and Sophie Scholl, their friends Christoph Probst and Alexander Schmorell and their university professor, Kurt Huber; military men such as Claus von Stauffenberg and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and even a member of the Waffen 55, Kurt Gerstein. Sadly by the time the Nazi regime came to an end most of those Germans who had resisted it were dead: arrested, imprisoned, tried and executed in the most barbaric manner.

Hitler's Traitors: German Resistance to the Nazi's

Historical

Pen_and_Sword

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