What a story! I’ve read my share of WWII spy novels—some gripping, some not—but The Last Secret Agent is something else entirely. It’s not a novel. It’s the real-life account of Pippa Latour, the last surviving British female spy from Churchill’s Special Operations Executive, finally telling her story after decades of silence.
Pippa parachuted into Nazi-occupied France at 23, posed as a teenage soap seller, and risked her life to send 135 coded messages to London. No gadgets. No backup. Just grit, silk hair ribbons, and nerves of steel. She worked alone, passed through Gestapo checkpoints, and survived—one of the few who did.
What makes this memoir even more remarkable is her humility. Pippa kept her secret for years—even her own husband had no idea. The truth only came out when her son stumbled across her name online. She passed away in 2023 at the age of 102, just before this book was published.
Beautifully co-written by journalist Jude Dobson, and brilliantly narrated by Jilly Bond, The Last Secret Agent is honest, quietly powerful, and absolutely fascinating. It’s for anyone who loves WWII history, female-led stories, or just a jaw-dropping true tale well told.
Pippa called her life “unusual.” That might be the understatement of the century.
** Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a comp of this audiobook. The opinions are my own.