The Last Escaper
The product of a lifetime's reflection, The Last Escaper is Peter Tunstall's unforgettable memoir of his days in the RAF and as one of the most celebrated of all British POWs.
Tunstall was an infamous tormentor of his German captors dubbed the cooler king (on account of his long spells in solitary), but also a highly skilled pilot, loyal friend and trusted colleague. Without false pride or bitterness, Tunstall recounts the high jinks of training to be a pilot, terrifying bombing raids in his Hampden and of elaborate escape attempts that were at once hilarious and deadly serious - all part of a poignant and human war story superbly told by a natural raconteur.
The Last Escaper is a charming and hugely informative last testament written by one of the few men standing from the Colditz generation who risked their lives in the Second World War. It takes its place as one of the classic first-hand accounts of that momentous conflict.
Book details
- Format
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780715650219
- Published
- 10 September 2015
- Pages
- 328
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 129 x 198 mm
- Genre
- Memoir and Biography
- Imprint
- Duckworth
Reviews
'If this escape memoir is franker about the unrelenting prospect of death than any other books written before, it is also leavened by passages of sangfroid, humour and audacity. The author's cartoons depict both the brutality and the absurdity of the camps'
'Right up there with Stalag 17 and The Great Escape'
'A remarkable memoir of a British lad's salad days flying bombers against the Nazis and then repeatedly escaping their prison camps... An engrossing valediction to the tough, imaginative generation forged by the war'
'The historical account of behind-the-scenes drama makes this a valuable addition to the period literature'
'The story is not sugar coated to make things lighter than they were. The stark reality of war is ever present in his detailed accounting of life as a prisoner of war. We are taken through the highs and lows of not only each failed attempt but the psychological effects of imprisonment on himself, others in the camps and ultimately how it changed each person involved'
