Nicholas Monsarrat – författare

Based on the author’s own vivid experiences, The Cruel Sea is the nail-biting story of the crew of HMS Compass Rose, a corvette assigned to protect convoys during World War II.

Darting back and forth across the icy North Atlantic, Compass Rose played a deadly cat-and-mouse game with packs of German U-boats lying in wait beneath the ocean waves.

Packed with tension and vivid descriptions of agonizing U-boat hunts, this tale of the most bitter and chilling campaign of the war tells of ordinary men who had to master their own fears before they could face a brutal menace—one which would strike without warning from the deep.

In “HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbor,” an old sloop, homeward bound, is torpedoed, leaving her guns out of action, more than three quarters of her crew dead, and radio contact impossible. But her valiant captain steadfastly refuses to surrender his ship. In “Leave Canceled,” an army officer and his young wife concentrate their passionate love into twenty-four hours, knowing that it might be their last chance. And in “Heavy Rescue,” an old soldier, having lived on the scrap heap for more than twenty years, finds that gallantry is once again in demand when he becomes leader of a heavy rescue squad.

Crime, mystery, adventure, thrills—all are to be found in this short-story collection commencing with “The Ship That Died of Shame,” in which a former navy gunboat is used for smuggling by ex-servicemen down on their luck in postwar society. In “The Reconciliation,” a husband employs private detectives but then changes his mind about a divorce once their findings are revealed. In “Licensed to Kill,” a honeymoon soon turns into a manhunt when a former Royal Marine commando employs the tricks of his trade. A further seven stories complete a volume full of twists, turns, and hard-hitting drama.

''One of the most memorable characters of post-war fiction'' Daily ExpressA classic novel set in the siege of Malta 1940-1942 from the bestselling author of The Cruel Sea

Father Salvatore was a simple, lumbering priest, a Kappillan serving the poor Valetta, when war came out of the blue skies to pound the island to dust.

Now amid the catacombs discovered by a chance bomb, he cared for the flood of homeless, starving, frightened people who sought shelter from the death that fell unceasingly from the sky.

His story, and the story of Malta, is told in superbly graphic pictures of six days during the siege. Each of those days brought forth from the Kappillan a message of inspiration to keep them going - the legendary tales of six mighty events of Malta''s history which shone through the centuries and gathered them together in a fervent belief in their survival.