After researching the life of a British Special Operation Executive agent, Oliver Churchill, who operated in German occupied Northern Italy in the autumn/ winter of 1944, Andrea Cominini found that his brother, Peter, had also been an SOE agent and was one of the first agents operating in France during WWII. Peter carried out three missions, spending 225 days in enemy territory. Finally captured, he spent over two years in captivity. After the war he wrote four novels based on his wartime experiences. Reviewing his second book, The Daily Herald wrote: “Now Peter Churchill wrote one of the best spy books of all time”. The author describes the different literary genres in which Churchill’s works can be situated and – through a subsequent analysis of the novels – how they provide a clear and historical representation of everyday life of a British secret agent during WWII. Peter Churchill’s works are then compared to those of other novelists of his time, uncovering a range of connections with other related authors and literary genres. After the war, Churchill was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Croix de Guerre; his wife Odette, who worked with him as an underground courier during the war, was the first woman to receive the George Cross.
Andrea Cominini graduated in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona (I), is a teacher in the upper secondary school and writes historical essays for the Historical Institutes for the Resistance of Brescia, Bergamo and Rimini. In 2018 he wrote the essay “La missione alleata Fairway: un Churchill in Valle Camonica” in “The Allies in Brescia between war and reconstruction – Sources, researches, interpretations”. In 2020 he published his historical book “Il nazista e il ribelle. Una storia all’ultimo respiro”. During the last ten years, he has published several re-editions of local history books and has produced two historical documentaries and a short film on the Resistance period, participating in national and international conferences.
Linda Bressanelli – La Voce del Popolo (Brescia), December 7 2022
“Chi è davvero Peter Churchill? Peter Churchill di Cominini”
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