Latest news with #OperationPimento
The Advertiser
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Handbook tells how to go all-in on solar (and how to pay for it)
New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99. The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived. Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00. Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away. Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met. Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99. Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt. Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99. The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99. Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic. Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99. Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter? Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country? Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99. The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived. Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00. Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away. Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met. Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99. Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt. Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99. The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99. Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic. Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99. Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter? Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country? Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99. The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived. Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00. Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away. Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met. Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99. Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt. Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99. The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99. Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic. Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99. Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter? Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country? Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. New books sampled this week include Saul Griffith's how-to guide for "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" and the memoir of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Sophy Burnham. MacMillan Australia. $36.99. The genesis of this book was a question Sophy Burnham's younger cousin, Eleanor, asked her over an espresso in a cafe on a street in Paris. As if standing on the edge of an unavoidable precipice, the cousin, aged 59, asked Burnham, 85, what it was like to be old. The answer? "It's one of the most interesting periods of my whole life." Burnham digs deeper into the meaning of age in a series of unsent letters to Eleanor, written over the course of a year and reflecting on the lessons she has learnt from a full life truly lived. Jacinda Ardern. Penguin. $55.00. Jacinda Ardern grew up in a small-town Mormon family, the daughter of a police officer. What, then, was the path of a young woman plagued by self-doubt to the highest political office in New Zealand? Ardern became prime minister in 2017 aged only 37. Her signature style was kindness and empathy, an approach that stood her in good stead as she navigated a terrorist attack, the pandemic, a volcano disaster and motherhood. Then, in 2023, Ardern announced she was stepping down as PM. Her memoir traces her journey to the pinnacle of politics and her surprising decision to walk away. Adam Hart. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. In August 1943 Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths took off from England on a secret night mission codenamed Operation Pimento to deliver much-needed arms to the French resistance. When his Halifax bomber took enemy fire near Annecy, Griffiths wrestled the plane into a crash landing at the village of Meythet, near the Alps. Griffiths was the only survivor. Injured and alone, he embarked on a 1900km, 108-day journey home via the attic of a brothel, a Frenchwoman's chimney and a Spanish prison cell. Nearly 80 years later, Adam Hart, Griffiths' great-grandson, retraced the journey of the wartime hero he never met. Saul Griffith with Laura Fraser. Black Inc. $27.99. Saul Griffith's book stands apart from the print-acres of self-help and mumbo jumbo advice manuals on the market by actually being useful. Griffith tackles the challenges of "unsubscribing from fossil fuels for good" by focusing on what he calls the big five: electrifying your home, driving, water heating, space heating and cooking. You may already have solar panels, but what are the pros and cons of a home battery? How do you switch from expensive and polluting gas hot water to a heat pump? How do you pay for it? Griffiths demystifies concepts that would otherwise make your head hurt. Kimberley Freeman. Hachette. $32.99. The 1967 disappearance of Harold Holt, Australia's 17th prime minister, while swimming at Cheviot Beach in Portsea, Victoria, sparked wild theories: that he faked his death or was assassinated by the CIA or was plucked out of the ocean by a Chinese spy submarine. Kimberley Freeman threads her own fictional theory into the facts with this reimagining of the inner life of Holt's wife, Dame Zara, tracing her journey from the night she met Harry at a university dance in Melbourne in 1927 to his fateful swim 40 years later, including her success as a fashion designer and running her own business. Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. Allen & Unwin. $26.99. Lady Isobelle of Avington Castle is dreading the Tournament of Dragonslayers - because she's supposed to be the grand prize for the winner of the joust. Meanwhile, gutsy Gwen, hiding her desire for damsels while working as a blacksmith, yearns for valor and glory as a knight. They hatch a scheme to pursue their forbidden desires - freedom and each other. Longtime friends Meagan Spooner, who is based in North Carolina, and Amie Kaufman, who's in Melbourne, say they originally conceived their fun, feisty feminist and queer reimagining of medieval romance while sharing the cheesy joys of 2001 Heath Ledger movie A Knight's Tale long-distance during the pandemic. Dandy Smith. Echo Publishing. $22.99. Sixteen years after the ordeal of her older sister's apparent abduction as they slept at home alone while their parents went out to dinner, schoolteacher Caitin is stunned when Olivia returns home. Is this woman really who she says she is? Or is she an imposter? As Caitlin's suspicions grow, the unhappy life she's been living to fill the Olivia-shaped hole in her family begins to crumble. Even her fiance questions Caitlin's sanity. If this Olivia is a fraud, what's her motive? Is everything Caitlin said she saw that night the truth? What price will the family pay if they believe the wrong daughter? Marija Pericic. Ultimo Press. $34.99. Sisters Eva and Elizabeta Novak, Croatian immigrants, haven't spoken for a decade, not since the car crash that killed Eva's young daughter. When Elizabeta, who was driving that fateful day, mails her estranged sibling a plane ticket with a note saying "I need to see you. Please come", Eva arrives in rural Victoria from Germany to find her sister dead in her home. Appointed executor of Elizabeta's estate, Eva sorts through her sister's belongings. But will her anger permit grief? And what secrets will she uncover about the shared traumas of their past - a place so distant it feels like a foreign country? Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
Pembrokeshire Herald
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Pembrokeshire author retraces daring WW2 escape in new book
Operation Pimento tells the story of a local man's heroic great-grandfather—and the civilians who risked everything to save him A YOUNG author from Pembrokeshire is set to publish his first book this week, telling the incredible true story of his great-grandfather's escape from Nazi-occupied Europe during the Second World War. Adam Hart, 25, who grew up just outside Narberth and attended Tavernspite Primary School, will release Operation Pimento: My Great-Grandfather's Great Escape on Thursday (June 5). The book is being published by Hodder & Stoughton in hardback, eBook and audio formats. The story follows Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths, a Special Duties pilot from north Wales, who was shot down in August 1943 while on a secret mission to drop supplies to the French Resistance. Frank's plane crashed near the village of Annecy, killing six crew members and five civilians. Frank was the only survivor. What followed was a breathtaking 1,400-mile escape over 108 days, as Frank—helped by French villagers, children, brothel workers and resistance fighters—made his way to safety via Spain and Gibraltar. His journey included hiding in an attic above a brothel, crawling through a chimney, and enduring a prison cell in Franco's Spain before finally reaching Allied forces. In 2022, Adam retraced his great-grandfather's entire escape route, meeting descendants of those who had risked their lives to save Frank. The book combines their two stories across time, paying tribute to wartime bravery and the lasting impact of shared history. 'Growing up, I always thought of my great-grandfather as a hero,' said Adam. 'But during my journey I realised the true heroes were the ordinary French civilians who risked imprisonment, torture and even death to help him.' The book has already received high praise from bestselling authors and historians. Andy McNab called it 'truly inspiring,' while Anthony Horowitz said it was 'an affectionate and often audacious tale of an unsung WW2 hero.' Adam has previously written for The Times and The Telegraph, and has appeared on Antiques Roadshow, ITV Evening News, and Radio 4. Operation Pimento is available from Thursday (June 5), priced at £22. Adam Hart, 25, will release Operation Pimento: My Great-Grandfather's Great Escape on Thursday (June 5).
North Wales Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
Historian retraces ancestor's dramatic wartime escape 79 years later
Frank Griffiths, who was from North Wales and spent most of his life in Ruthin, was an RAF pilot in the Second World War. Now, his great grandson, writer and historian Adam Hart, from Pembrokeshire, has written an account of his ancestor's daring exploits having won a travel bursary to retrace his steps. Frank spent much of the war test piloting around the North Wales coast But, in 1943, Frank was shot down in in France. He was the only survivor and spent the next three months escape back to Britain. Adam Hart at the crash site in Annecy, France, where there is a stone memorial. (Image: Supplied) His escape, as well as Adam's retracing of it, is told in the upcoming book Operation Pimento. The book's description said: "On 14 August 1943, Squadron Leader Frank Griffiths set off on a secret mission to deliver supplies to members of the French Resistance living in occupied France. A few hours later, his plane had crashed into a village near Annecy, killing all six of his crew and five civilians. Only Frank survived. "What happened next was extraordinary: Frank embarked on an epic 1,400-mile,108-day escape from the Nazis. Assisted by ordinary people - children, villagers, farmers, rebels and soldiers - he managed to make his way to safety in Gibraltar, via a Frenchwoman's chimney, the attic over a brothel, and a Spanish prison cell, not to mention an arduous trek over the Pyrenees." Operation Pimento by Adam Hart. (Image: Supplied) Adam's book breathes new life into Frank's heroic tale and keeps his great-grandfather's memory alive. in a riveting tale of danger, bravery and legacy. Adam said: "Having grown up hearing Frank's story, I always thought of my great grandfather as a hero. But during my journey across Europe, I realised the true heroes in this story were the people of France who risked, and in some cases later faced, imprisonment, torture and execution to save him. I'm so grateful to Hodder & Stoughton for keeping not only Frank's story alive, but also these incredible French civilians.' Of the book, Andy McNab said: "Frank Griffiths' incredible escape and evasion story will become a wartime classic. Truly inspiring." Operation Pimento, published by Hodder & Stoughton, is released on June 5.
