Finding Hester
The Incredible Story of the Hidden Woman Whose Love Letters Changed World War II
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Finding Hester
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Cullum
About this listen
Finding Hester explores the untold story of Hester Leggatt, a woman who helped trick the Nazis, and is a fascinating listen 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.
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While I was tangentially aware of the Finding Hester team’s early work, I hadn’t appreciated the full breadth or depth of their historical research until now. Having read the physical edition cover to cover within days of release, I was struck by the authors’ painstaking attention to fact, their respectful engagement with the people and families involved, and their infectious enthusiasm for the story they were uncovering.
It’s a real shame that a book this impressive appears to have been targeted by a review-bomb. One wonders if the 1-star review left by “CJ” shortly after the audiobook’s publication came from the same person who left an almost identical review of the print edition. One can only speculate as to the motivation behind such a campaign.
In my view, that review says far more about its author than it does about this book. For what it’s worth, the “error” CJ highlights is an incidental phrase in the foreword—hardly central to the book’s subject, Hester. While “CJ” may imply otherwise it is clear the book is rigorously researched. As for the comments about the audiobook narrator, they strike me as needlessly spiteful.
Every historical work contains a few minor slips, but in this case they’re vanishingly rare, far fewer than in most comparable books, and nowhere near enough to merit losing even half a star (let alone 4).
This book is a remarkable, deeply human piece of research and storytelling that more than deserves to be read, shared, and celebrated.
Utterly brilliant
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