{"id":112444,"date":"2026-02-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/?post_type=product&#038;p=112444"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T11:52:47","slug":"operation-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780241799918","title":{"rendered":"Operation Heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>A moving reimagining of the man at the heart of Operation Mincemeat<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It is a story of why men go to war, it is also a heart-wrenching love story&#8217; Nina Bawden<\/b><\/p>\n<p>William Maryngton has just one dream: to fight for his country, as his late father did. Devoted and honourable, he knows no fear &#8211; yet somehow, he always misses the battle; too young for the First World War, too old for the Second. <i>Operation Heartbreak<\/i> follows Willie&#8217;s life, through youthful idealism, love affairs and disappointed hopes, until, finally, he gets the chance to make a difference. Duff Cooper&#8217;s bittersweet novel, inspired by the real events of Operation Mincemeat, is a poignant tale of dreams of glory, and what it means to be true.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Supremely moving &#8230; Its ending is as unexpected as it is affecting&#8217; <i>Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William Maryngton has one dream in life: to fight for his country, as his father did. Yet, by the time Armistice is reached in 1918, he is too young to fulfil his greatest wish. As time passes, Willie finds himself increasingly out of sync with the evolving nature of warfare and civilian life. Yet, when conflict reignites between Germany and England, he is selected for a secret mission that could determine the outcome of the Second World War. Inspired by the true events of the 1943 mission codenamed &#8216;Operation Mincemeat&#8217;, and based on classified information from Churchill&#8217;s war cabinet, Operation Heartbreak is the only novel that Duff Cooper ever wrote. It remains a timeless exploration of unfulfilled ambition and personal sacrifice, offering a deeply moving portrayal of a man caught between his aspirations and the inexorable march of history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[68],"product_tag":[26949,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-112444","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","5":"product_cat-general-fiction","6":"product_tag-classic-fiction","7":"product_tag-second-world-war-fiction","8":"pa_book_author-cooper-duff","9":"pa_cover-paperback","10":"pa_dewey-823-914-edition23","11":"pa_edition-reprint","12":"pa_imprint-penguin-classics","13":"pa_language-english","14":"pa_pages-8348","15":"pa_publisher-penguin-classics","16":"pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","18":"first","19":"instock","20":"taxable","21":"shipping-taxable","22":"purchasable","23":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Operation Heartbreak<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A moving reimagining of the man at the heart of Operation Mincemeat&#039;It is a story of why men go to war, it is also a heart-wrenching love story&#039; Nina BawdenWilliam Maryngton has just one dream: to fight for his country, as his late father did. Devoted and honourable, he knows no fear - yet somehow, he always misses the battle; too young for the First World War, too old for the Second. Operation Heartbreak follows Willie&#039;s life, through youthful idealism, love affairs and disappointed hopes, until, finally, he gets the chance to make a difference. Duff Cooper&#039;s bittersweet novel, inspired by the real events of Operation Mincemeat, is a poignant tale of dreams of glory, and what it means to be true.&#039;Supremely moving ... Its ending is as unexpected as it is affecting&#039; Wall Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9780241799918\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Operation Heartbreak\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A moving reimagining of the man at the heart of Operation Mincemeat&#039;It is a story of why men go to war, it is also a heart-wrenching love story&#039; Nina BawdenWilliam Maryngton has just one dream: to fight for his country, as his late father did. Devoted and honourable, he knows no fear - yet somehow, he always misses the battle; too young for the First World War, too old for the Second. 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