Operation Heartbreak

by Unknown Author

Paperback

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Reviews

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of William Maryngton. He is an only child – his mother died giving birth to him on 1st January 1900. His father was in a cavalry regiment and died in 1914. Because there are no relatives on either side of the family, should anything happen to him, Willie’s father nominated a fellow office to act as his guardian. The guardian also dies, so his widow, Mrs. Osborne, took on responsibility of looking after Willie during holidays from private school. Mrs. Osborne had children: Garnet, who was older than Willie and works in the Medical Corps; Horatio or ‘Horry’, also older than Willie, is a bit of a joker and went on to be an actor; Felicity, who Willie is very fond of. She is happy to be friends, but no more.

Willie goes to Sandhurst and hopes to fight for his country. He joins the cavalry and has great skills in horsemanship – but machines will be taking over from horses. As far as being involved in combat, Willie was too young for WWI and too old for WWII. Nothing seems to work out for Willie - hr falls in love with Daisy Summers, who, it turns out, was at school with Felicity. They get engaged and are about to marry when she runs off with an old flame. Willie has had many hopes and dreams, but sadly none seem to come to fruition. He ends up getting pneumonia and dying at Garnet’s house, where he had been staying for a few days.

Garnet goes to have lunch at the Service Club and bumps into someone he knows who is a Brigadier. He mentions Willie to him. When he hears that Willie has just died and has no relatives, turns out Willie is just the person the Brigadier needs because Operation Mincemeat has been hatched – they just need the right body.

Lovely writing. A good, if sad, read