Little Cyclone - Couverture souple

Neave, Airey

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0340174064 ISBN 13 : 9780340174067

Editeur : Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1986

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Andrée de Jongh was a young artist in Brussels when German troops marched into Belgium in May 1941. Her father dubbed her the 'Little Cyclone', because she was so determined to make things happen. Inspired by Edith Cavell, the British nurse shot dead by the Germans during the First World War, the 24-year-old de Jongh nursed wounded allied servicemen.

She then set up the Comet Line to smuggle trapped soldiers and airmen through France and across the Pyrenees into Spain. When the first group never arrived, the Little Cyclone did the job herself: she turned up at the British consulate in Bilbao in August 1941 with two Scottish soldiers and insisted she could bring many more. MI6 was convinced she was a German spy. But the Little Cyclone got her way and the escape line she created saved the lives of more than 800 Allied servicemen.

Such heroism came at an enormous cost. One hundred and fifty-six members of the Comet Line died, the majority of them in the Nazi concentration camps. The story of Little Cyclone is one of tragedy and triumph, a remarkably human and inspiring story that rivals the most dramatic of thrillers.

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Présentation de l'éditeur

On a hot afternoon in August 1941, a 24-year-old Belgian woman walks into the British consulate in Bilbao, neutral Spain, and demands to see the consul. She presents him with a British soldier she has 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. And she is an inspiration. From nursing wounded Allied servicemen, de Jongh will go on to establish the most famous escape line of the Second World War, one that will save the lives of more than 800 airmen and soldiers stranded behind enemy lines.

The risks, however, will be enormous. The cost, unspeakably tragic.

Her story is shot through atmospherically 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.

Originally published in the years after the war, Little Cyclone is a mesmerising tale of the best of humanity in the most unforgiving circumstances: a remarkable and inspiring account to rival the most dramatic of thrillers.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
• Date d'édition: 1986
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0340174064
• ISBN 13: 9780340174067
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible