Finding Hester: The Incredible Story Of The Hidden Woman Whose Love Letters Changed World War II In Operation Mincemeat

by Erin Edwards, Greg Callus, Claudia Caplan Wolff

Finding Hester explores the untold story of Hester Leggatt, a woman who helped trick the Nazis, and is a fascinating read for fans of West End musical Operation Mincemeat and anyone with an interest in women’s war stories

Operation Mincemeat is one of the stranger tales to come out of the Second World War. A corpse dressed as a British pilot was dropped in the ocean near Spain, with the forged documents he carried landing in the hands of the Germans to convince them to move their troops to the advantage of the allied forces.

It is an event perhaps most popularly told in Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed the Course of World War II, but it has recently been retold in a 2021 film and is currently the plot of an Olivier-winning West End musical. Operation Mincemeat has never been more familiar to the public.

To sell the ruse of the corpse, MI5 had to create a credible backstory for their fictitious pilot. They filled his briefcase with receipts, cigarettes, a photograph, and, importantly, two fabricated love letters.

An interview with MI5 secretary Jean Leslie, conducted by Macintyre for his book, revealed the name of the woman behind those letters to be a ‘Hester Leggett’. This has been repeated ever since, including in both the film and the musical.

Hester Leggett does not exist.

The false identity was discovered by a group of fans of the musical. While we know much about the other key figures portrayed in the musical, Hester was always more of a mystery and once the group started to research her, they discovered she was actually Hester Leggatt.

This misplaced vowel made all the difference and we uncovered a huge amount about the real Hester. This book tells the story of how the musical fanbase found her school records, her family, her real love letters from the Second World War, and definitive confirmation from MI5 that they had the right person.

Genres: Nonfiction, War

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2025

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a huge fan of the show and someone who has watched the finding Hester progress from the sidelines, this was never going to be anything less than a five star read for me. I didn’t, however, quite expect to be as genuinely moved as I was by this book. This is a beautiful and carefully pieced together story of Hester’s life and the end of the book had me in floods. I loved all the additional research chapters and how they highlighted just how expansive this research project has been. I cannot recommend this more highly, it’s a lovely record of a group of people who did something (dare I say?!) useful.

[fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This riveting book tells the story of how a dedicated community of musical fans uncovered the identity and life of an overlooked heroine portrayed in the show, the result of a thoroughly modern phenomenon: a crowdsourced research project inspired by a tweet, conducted on Discord channels and updated on a Google Doc. It is well-structured, elegantly written and packed with backstage insight. Like the project itself, the question of whether this book is shoddily researched must be answered emphatically, albeit in less amphibian terms, in the negative. Compulsory reading for all Mincefluencers.

[Klara Plantin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long review intercepted!

As someone who has been completely and utterly mesmerized by the character Hester in SpitLip's musical "Operation Mincemeat," reading about the real person behind the character felt like such a privilege.

The first time I saw Operation Mincemeat was in 2023, on the initiative of my dad (thank GOD for that!!), I was immediately moved by Heater and tears were shed both during Dear Bill and Useful. And while I am in awe of the entire show, when I had the fortune of being able to see it on Broadway earlier this year, Hester and Jean were definitely the people I was there to see.

I cried multiple times while reading this book. Even though I know that the plaque was a wish issued by the character, and not the real person, knowing that she got it moves me so deeply. Thank you to the group of people dead set on finding and telling her story - truly the finest minds in England!!

Hester, my roman empire, I'm so glad I got to know you a bit more 🌹

"And they'll see that we were useful!" 🥇

[Nele Paulsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it’s the former academic in me, but I love stories like this - where people get together to have some fun, and end up uncovering history in the process.

This book is exactly what it promises, the story of “Finding Hester,” where a group of people (musical friends!) set out to find out who “Hester” really was.

Learning how all this came about, how social media were involved in the research and how a small group’s interest can lead to a big discovery with repercussions for the real world was a lot of fun and gave me the warm fuzzies.

Important women in history deserve more spotlight so I’m glad Hester got her real name back through the research Erin and her group conducted and we all get to learn more about her this way.

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️

Beautiful.

A remarkable way to honour a woman whose story had, up to this point, not been told. A clever biography that also told the tale of a dedicated group of fans and their inspirational mission to unearth the details of Hester’s life.

To think that all of this started because of a misspelt name in a book is almost unbelievable. What’s even more unbelievable is the journey embarked on by the people who turned their attention honouring Hester properly, brought together by a shared love of a “bonkers” show about a military deception.

A Twitter thread lead a group of “Mincefluencers” on a wild ride. They contacted archives, family members, and even got MI5 involved. Team #FindingHester connected with cast members, living Leggatts, and each other to produce a meticulously detailed look into Hester’s life. Reading about their process and teamwork — especially since the project was mostly progressed online, with some members never meeting — was, for me, heartwarming and left me inspired. The pace and scale of their project seemed to expand and increase as it moved forward, bringing the reader along for the ride and allowing them to get as excited as the researchers when any new discovery was made.

I enjoyed reading about the stories of the other characters that were woven into this book, a similarly lovely way to remember the lesser-told characters of Operation Mincemeat, especially as discoveries were constantly linked to the musical for which the researchers embarked on this crazy adventure. As the Team say, “Hester Leggatt is not the only person out there who needs finding.”

By using their joint resources for good, the team were able to make amends to the way Hester has been remembered — spellings of names altered in show programmes and a plaque at the theatre. Team #FindingHester perfectly showed how unrelenting enthusiasm and determination pays off, even if they left some people thinking them insane.

Overall, the story of Finding Hester was heartwarming — both as a biographical look into Hester’s life and a story of teamwork.

If it’s up, it’s up as one.

——

“[…] In a matter of hours, more had been done to find Hester than had been done in the entire history of Operation Mincemeat.

“And we were only just beginning.”

— Team #FindingHester, Finding Hester

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book having seen (and very much enjoyed) the Operation Mincemeat musical so I was aware of what I was about to read, but this book is more than just the story of a hyper enthusiastic fandom. It’s an exciting and engrossing journey into archival research, capturing both the challenges of genealogy (especially when the family history is not your own) and the rewards that may lay in store. The excitement comes as much from experiencing the journey of the researchers as they follow new leads and uncover new information as from learning about Hester herself. I read it in (almost) one sitting.

I’d recommend seeing the musical before reading, as part of what made this book so heartwarming was seeing the ‘real’ Hester come to life having fallen in love with the fictional one, and appreciating all the nuances of both the on stage character and the woman herself, including where the two collide and where truth and fiction divert.

[Connor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading this was difficult for me - Watching a remarkable woman's legacy be tossed aside and disregarded in favour of constantly praising the musical writers and the "remarkable group of fans" was beyond frustrating. The extremely insufficient research and utter lack of care regarding the subject matter at hand is already enough reason for me to discourage those from reading this - the incredibly poor editing leading to various typos and the bland, overly complex style of run-on writing is just the cherry on top. If you choose to engage with this book, take everything mentioned with a grain of salt - a book that dedicates a chapter titled "The Name of a Hero" to talk about the authors is unlikely to have anything of substance. Other than, of course, the unsubtle boasting about the "research" that was done.

[✰matthew✰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was written in a way that was really accessible and easy to read.

i found it very interesting to learn more about not just hester but other characters too.

however i do think this book was incorrectly marketed, it doesn’t state that this books main focus stems from the operation mincemeat musical.

i didn’t know this but also didn’t mind as i love musicals but i think it could be a pretty major issue for some people reading this book.

now i’m going to consider which book on operation mincemeat itself i would like to read soon.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the true story behind the 'Operation Mincemeat' musical and particularly Hester Leggatt, the woman who worked at MI5 and wrote the love letters found on the dead body washed up in Spain in the war and convinced the Germans that the allies were going to attack via Sardinia and not Sicily.

Finding more about the woman behind the character portrayed in the musical and giving her the credit due to her was interesting in itself. But this book also has the added dimension of how this information was researched and discovered by a team on fans of the musical.

[Electricmouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has twitter.com as a source, spends more time sucking up to and worshipping Spitlip than discussing Hester, and references Ewen Montagu's book as "The man who never was who never was." Both throughout the main book and in the bibliography. This book should've been at the very least proof read before publishing.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a book, this was a mess of editing (can we at least get an update to the ebook version to fix The Man Who Never Was Who Never Was???) but, as a story, it was beautiful.

5 stars for deepening my obsession with the musical, sending me into an emotional slump, and making me feel an inescapable amount of fomo for not being an original Mincefluencer.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this was a fascinating book!! I have read the books on Operation Mincemeat, seen the movie, and finally saw the musical. An amazing story and so much more after reading this book. It goes into all that we don't know of people involved in history that actually changed the world. Recommended if you find the story of Operation Mincemeat truly amazing!!

[Ningxint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally biased review because I have watched Operation Mincemeat 4 times - I’m touched by this ground-up effort by hardcore fans. It’s beautiful to know that the musical and more specifically Jak’s delivery of Dear Bill could spark such a dedicated search for Hester. To me, it filled the gap in Ben McIntyre’s non-fic which focused a lot on the Montagu and Chomoldely.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a comfortable four star read until the final two chapters. After reading them, I can't give the book anything but five stars.

To the entire #FindingHester-team; you have indeed found her and given her the spotlight she deserves. Bravissimo!

[Jack Abrams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic research project from a group of enthusiastic fans of a fantastic musical. Really fascinating to read, highly recommend to any fellow Mincefluencer.

I will say this needed another round of editing/publishing review because my god are there typos all over

[BethLee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an Operation Mincemeat musical fan and a historian, I greatly enjoyed this book. It was interesting and informative, as well as being entertaining. This book would probably not be as interesting for people who don’t like the musical, as they regularly reference it.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Applause to the team behind this book. A great dive into finding out who Hester Leggatt was, as well as being a good biography of the Operation Mincemeat stage show too. All brilliant stuff. Had to listen to "Dear Bill" immediately afterwards. IYKYK.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read.

Recommended reading.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed finding out much more about dear Hester and others. Well done team #findiinghester

[Kate Mull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected, but an interesting read. The musical sounds bizarre.