A Cool and Lonely Courage (1922)

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The death of an eccentric recluse is rarely an event for international headlines. But when police were called to the tiny apartment of the elderly Eileen Nearne, they found a small bundle of possessions that told an amazing story. It was soon discovered that Eileen Nearne had been an agent for the British Special Operations Executive during the WWII. Working undercover in Nazi-occupied France, she sent encoded messages of crucial importance for the Allies until her capture by the Gestapo. Astonishingly, Eileen was not the only spy in the family—-her sister Jacqueline was also a British agent, working as a courier for the French Resistance. Rarely had two members of the same family sacrificed so much to such dangerous work. A Cool and Lonely Courage pays tribute to these fiercely patriotic women, who fought for freedom at great personal cost. While Jacqueline narrowly avoided capture several times, Eileen was tortured by the Gestapo and sent to the infamous