Get the scoop on The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour, the book taking NZ by storm!
Do you recognise the name Pippa Latour? One of the bestselling books in New Zealand right now is her memoir, The Last Secret Agent, which is the astounding true story of one of the last female operations agents in France to get out alive 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 shoelace 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. Following World War II, Pippa settled in New Zealand where she raised four children. For 70 years, Pippa’s contributions to the war effort were largely unheralded. Not even her family knew the incredible feats during the war.
Now her incredible story can be known by all.
The Last Secret Agent
by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson
The extraordinary untold story of Pippa Latour, who parachuted into occupied France in 1944 as an undercover agent.
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