Operation Heartbreak

This ironic 1950 novel from Cooper (1890–1954; Old Men Forget, a memoir), published for the first time in the U.S., draws on his time in Winston Churchill’s cabinet during WWII, when, as Minister of Information, he was privy to the British deception plot known as Operation Mincemeat. The details of that plot are revealed at the end, as is the involvement of Cooper’s main character, Willie Maryngton. Born in 1900, Willie is raised as a foster son by the widow of one of his late father’s army comrades. At age 18, he joins a cavalry regiment, but the Armistice is announced before he can be sent overseas, denying him the chance to be a hero. He remains in the regiment and spends the interwar years stationed in India and Egypt. When WWII begins, Willie stays in England to train recruits, unaware of the role fate has in store for him. Willie’s rigid adherence to the old order marks him as either heroic or foolish in the manner of Stevens, the head butler in Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. Some readers might find his passivity frustrating, but the novel’s understated tone charms. Cooper’s portrait of the interwar years is an appealing literary curiosity. (Feb.)