Disaffected, bored with his career at the French Colonial Ministry (where he has copied out birth and death certificates for eight years), and disgusted by a mistress whose vapid optimism arouses his most violent misogyny, the narrator finds himself at the point of complete breakdown while vacationing in Florence. After leaving his mistress and the Ministry behind forever, he joins the crew of The Gibraltar, a yacht captained by Anna, a beautiful American in perpetual search of her sometime lover, a young man known only as the Sailor from Gibraltar.''
A spellbinding story of love and betrayal for fans of Santa Montefiore, Fiona Valpy's The Beekeeper's Promise and Dinah Jefferies. Perfect for book clubs! ***Shortlisted for the Filigranes Prize*** ***RATED 5 STARS BY REAL READERS*** "I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!" -5* Amazon review "A story full of mysteries and romance, set against the sumptuous backdrop of Casablanca." -5* Amazon review "An exceptional debut" -Les Livres d'Eve blog "A novel full of warmth, emotions and exoticism." -Le Populaire Tall, brilliant and ambitious, eighteen-year-old sailor Guillaume has the world at his feet when he steps onto the shores of Casablanca in April 1940. But his dreams of travelling the world are cut short when he dies in a warship explosion in the harbour of Casablanca. Sixty-five years later in 2005, as Loubna fights to open a cinema in the bustling harbourside city, the young woman discovers the mystery of the sailor from Casablanca . . . and a suitcase full of her grandfather Guillaume's love letters. But could it be that the boy everyone has supposed dead for over half a century is still alive? And if so - did he run away with one of his countless girlfriends all these years ago? As Loubna searches for answers, she finds herself swept up in an epic story of love, passion, intrigue and betrayal, set in the enchantingly glamorous heart of Golden Age Casablanca.
Tales of a Tin Can Sailor is a wide ranging story of a sailor, two ships and many dedicated fighting men who, working together with a single purpose, accomplished sometimes heroic things. From waging submarine warfare in the Atlantic, participating in all of the invasions in the Mediterranean, to battling kamikazes in the Pacific, shooting down the last Japanese plane, with a task group the first to fire on the Japanese mainland, and the first allied ship of any kind to drop anchor in Tokyo Bay. Of particular interest and historical significance, are the actions described during the year spent in the Mediterranean. In all of the invasions-Sicily, Salerno and Anzio-the Navy played a major role in the success of each of the landings. None more so than the Salerno operation, where the Navy prevented the defeat and evacuation of our forces from Italy, the first landing on the European continent.
A ruthless Axis agent code-named Sirocco and an American linguist turned amateur spy find themselves on a collision course with destiny in romantic and exotic World War II Casablanca. Roosevelt and Churchill are coming to Casablanca. So are Eisenhower and Patton, Montgomery and DeGaulle. For ten days, the entire Allied High Command will be gathered in one place-to plan the invasion of Fortress Europe. Learning of the secret conference through an Abwehr intercept, Hitler launches an audacious counterstrike - with one demonic blow he will take out the assembled Allied chieftains and turn the tide of war back in favor of the Reich.
This WWII military history chronicles the bravery and daring of Britain’s Gordon Highlanders in Nazi occupied France. During the German offensive of May, 1940, the 51st (Highland) Division—which included the 1st and 5th Battalions Gordon Highlanders—became separated from the British Expeditionary Force. After a heroic stand at St Valery-en-Caux, the Division surrendered when fog thwarted efforts to evacuate them. Within days, scores of Gordons had escaped and were on the run through Nazi-occupied France. Many reached Britain after harrowing travails, including recapture and imprisonment often in atrocious conditions in France, Spain, or North Africa. Those imprisoned in Eastern Europe were forced to work in coal and salt mines, quarries, factories and farms. Some died through unsafe conditions or the brutality of their captors. Others escaped, on occasion fighting with distinction alongside Resistance forces. Many had to endure the brutal 1945 winter march away from the advancing Allies before their eventual liberation. This superbly researched book vividly recounts their many inspiring stories.
Admiral Andrew Cunningham, best remembered for his courageous leadership in the Mediterranean in the Second World War, is often rated as our finest naval commander after Nelson, and indeed a bust of the Admiral was unveiled in Trafalgar Square close by his predecessor in 1967 by the Duke of Edinburgh. It was during the dark days of 1940–41, after the surrender of France and Italy’s entry into the War and when Britain was fighting single-handed, that Cunningham held the Eastern Mediterranean with a fleet greatly inferior to the Italian; his lack of ships and aircraft was more than made up for by his bold and vigorous command. Taranto, Matapan, Crete, North Africa – these are the critical battles and regions with which he is so closely associated. A Sailor’s Odyssey is the stirring autobiography of this great fighting seaman from his boyhood in Dublin and his early career in the Navy and his service in the First World War, through his commands in the inter-war years, to the great sea battles in the Mediterranean, and then his elevation to First Sea Lord in 1943 and his subsequent responsibility for the operational policy of the Royal Navy during the later stages of the War. He attended the conferences at Casablanca, Teheran, Quebec and Yalta, and gives revealing glimpses of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. His was, truly, a remarkable career. This is a beautifully written and absorbing naval memoir, and it made a significant contribution to the history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War when it was first published in 1951; this new paperback edition, with an introduction by his great nephew Admiral Jock Slater, will fascinate and delight a new generation of readers and bring into focus again a great British fighting admiral.
In this book, which reads like a novel, Dirk Baatenburg de Jong, a Dutch Merchant Marine, is involved with a war he never signed up for after the Nazis invaded his native country, The Netherlands. After being part of the Battle of the Atlantic, fighting in the Mediterranean and Pacific Theatres, Dirk settled in the United States where he confronted another, more insidious threat, a corrupt labor union that threatened the life of his family. This is a must read for anyone interested in history, human survival, love, and unknown heroes.
