Author:Barry England
'Masterful and beautifully written. Riveting and compellingly authentic. Grips you like a vice from the first page and never lets you go' Damien Lewis
Two men are on the run. They have four hundred miles to go across hostile territory. Soldiers on the ground track them day and night, a helicopter circles above, life becomes a second-by-second fight for survival. Each muscle movement, drop of sweat, glance and instinct matters. Every second counts.
Through long slogs across country, risky raids for supplies, moments of sheer panic, and under the intense pressure to survive, an unbreakable bond between two men is forged. This stunningly written, adrenaline-pumping novel is a little-known classic of its genre.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE FIRST EVER BOOKER PRIZE IN 1969
‘England's prose has the tough, spare elegance of steel scaffolding… a brilliant achievement’ The Times
Masterful and beautifully written. Riveting and compellingly authentic. Grips you like a vice from the first page and never lets you go
—— Damien LewisEngland's prose has the tough, spare elegance of steel scaffolding. His vocabulary is wide, and used with arresting precision. The speed of the narrative is impeccably controlled – long slogs over country, moments of blind panic, passages of demoralizing inactivity, hair-raising evasions, all building up to a central set-piece in a burning field... A brilliant achievement
—— The TimesShocked through with dramatic tension
—— Irish TimesOutstanding … I doubt if there has been a more impressive debut since William Golding’s
—— Daily Telegraph[Nick] Stone is a deceptively complex action hero who does as good a job as many a newspaper columnist in guiding us through the new global politics.
—— Mail on SundayTicking like a time-bomb, Andy McNab's latest Nick Stone adventure is full of suspense.
—— Express & Star WolverhamptonIt's a blast.
—— Peterborough Evening TelegraphGlittering characterisation, sharp and eloquent writing.
—— Sunday TelegraphAn important 20th-century writer who paints a complex relationship between gender and power with wit and sensitivity.
—— Lauren Elkin, author of FlâneuseLush and lyrical - and darkly funny even at its most gut-punching - Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy manages to simultaneously be a sweeping panorama of a Europe in crisis and a discomfitingly intimate portrait of a no-less-broken marriage.
—— Tara Isabella Burton, author of Social CreatureAn addictive, gripping literary saga ... A sharp portrait of a young marriage under pressure and a vivid picture of being a Brit in an increasingly hostile and impoverished corner of Europe.
—— The TimesOlivia Manning takes autobiographical writing to a refreshingly new dimension. In The Balkan Trilogy she follows the well-worn mantra that authors should write about what they know, but she does so without sounding self-centred, a quality that so often dogs memoirs. Her's reads like wholly invented fiction with made-up, yet believable characters. It has been such a joy to re-read Manning's Trilogy...Manning's characterisation throughout the Trilogy is excellent. Her most astute depiction of a person in genuine inner conflict with himself is Guy Pringle...The author's depiction of Bucharest and the places Harriet and Guy visit are bold and colourful.
—— BookmunchA twisting murder mystery combined with a chillingly plausible alternative history of a divided Cold War London. Brilliant
—— Mason Cross, Richard and Judy bestselling author of The SamaritanRubin constructs a tantalising alternative world with 1950s Britain riven apart by its own version of the Berlin Wall - and all because the D-Day landings failed. Against this dystopian nightmare, the author overlays a murder mystery that's sure to appeal to fans of SS-GB, The Man in the High Castle, and Fatherland
—— David Young, CWA Dagger-winning author of Stasi ChildA gripping murder mystery set in an alternative 1950s Britain. Rubin's London, split between American and Soviet zones after a disastrous World War Two, is vividly realised and his story is elegantly constructed. One not to miss
—— William Ryan, author of The Constant SoldierIn the great tradition of SS-GB and Fatherland, Rubin's alternative-1950s murder mystery takes an ingenious premise - the Americans and the Soviets have carved up Britain between them after rescuing the country from the Nazis - and makes it come alive through sheer storytelling skill
—— Jake KerridgeStrange and haunting.
—— Robert Collins , ProspectArguably his best…. A must-read
—— Victoria Moore , Daily MailStunningly simple and profound.
—— Will Gore , Catholic HeraldThe strength of this masterly novel is that it illuminates without pretending to explicate.
—— Ronan Farren , Belfast Telegraph MorningIt’s signature Amis at his most inventive, and it is through…inspired and irreverent fluency that his dead-serious purpose is realized.
—— Tova Reich , Washington PostMost fiction would break under the weight of so much self-reflection, but The Zone of Interest does not even bend... Deft, ironic and horribly funny... A brilliantly believable account of an episode which is beyond belief.
—— Frances Wilson , OldieThe Zone of Interest succeeds because in it Amis is seriously funny - that is to say, funny for serious purposes.
—— Ben Cooke , Cherwell NewspaperMartin Amis’s best novel in years
—— Ian Rankin , GuardianIt’s a brilliant feat of imagination and chutzpah.
—— Viv Groskop , ObserverIs the Holocaust a fit subject for fiction? … The only proper response is to read this remarkable, deeply disturbing and quite original novel.
—— Alan Taylor , HeraldMartin Amis’s The Zone of Interest achieved the near impossible, confounding his detractors with this horrifying glimpse into the heard of Nazi darkness.
—— Bert Wright , Irish TimesThe Zone of Interest is Amis at his boldest and best.
—— Allan Massie , ScotsmanWhat would be otherwise be light entertainment…becomes sinister and strange, warped by the enormous atrocities happening just offstage.
—— Lev Grossman and Radhika Jones , Time MagazineMartin Amis’s best novel in years.
—— Ian Rankin , Guardian WeeklyIt is always hard to read factual material about the Holocaust but in fiction Amis has shined a light into this darkness which offers no answers but is still profoundly moving.
—— Richard Jaffa , Birmingham Jewish RecorderIt was very, very good.
—— Joseph Connolly , LadyI think everyone should read it – it is so horrific.
—— Kirsty Wark , LadyA well-received return to form
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily ExpressAstonishingly bold novel… [It] is Amis’s best work in years
—— Mail on SundayAmis’s best work since Money
—— Richard Susskind , The Times