Soldier, Spy
A Survivor's Tale
Published on 5. November 2015
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-4088-6785-3 (ISBN)
Description
Beginning in 1946, when Victor Gregg was demobbed after the end of the Second World War and deposited in London Paddington, Soldier, Spy is the story of a soldier returning to civilian life and all the challenges it entails.
Facing a new and ever-changing London, a shifting political landscape and plenty of opportunities to make a few bob, repairing the bomb damage and doing construction work on the Festival of Britain site, Vic moves from one job and pastime to the next, becoming by turns cyclist, builder, decorator, trade union official, Communist Party member and long-distance lorry driver. Finally he is offered 'a nice clean job' as chauffeur to the chairman of the Moscow Narodny Bank in which he will be able to return home to his wife and children every night. However, there is more to his new employers than meets the eye, and it is not long before his wartime work with the Long Range Desert group catches up with him in the form of an approach from the security services. Lured by the excitement his postwar life has lacked, Vic adds spy to his roster of employments, risking everything in the process.
Facing a new and ever-changing London, a shifting political landscape and plenty of opportunities to make a few bob, repairing the bomb damage and doing construction work on the Festival of Britain site, Vic moves from one job and pastime to the next, becoming by turns cyclist, builder, decorator, trade union official, Communist Party member and long-distance lorry driver. Finally he is offered 'a nice clean job' as chauffeur to the chairman of the Moscow Narodny Bank in which he will be able to return home to his wife and children every night. However, there is more to his new employers than meets the eye, and it is not long before his wartime work with the Long Range Desert group catches up with him in the form of an approach from the security services. Lured by the excitement his postwar life has lacked, Vic adds spy to his roster of employments, risking everything in the process.
Reviews / Votes
A gripping life-story: an incident-packed account of heartache, violence and cunning by a man whose will to survive and unbreakable optimism are a true inspiration * <b><i>Independent</i>, on <i>Rifleman</i></b> * Completely fascinating ... It has an immediate power throughout that makes war fiction a shadow of the real thing * <b>Conn Iggulden on <i>Rifleman</i></b> * As action-packed as any fiction, and yet this is no novel ... His is truly an astonishing story * <b>James Holland on <i>Rifleman</i></b> * Evocative, detailed and unsentimental - gets us wonderfully close-up to the London of the 1930s viewed through the unblinking eyes of a working-class boy relishing every new experience * <b>David Kynaston on <i>King's Cross Kid</i></b> *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-6785-3 (9781408867853)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2015
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€12.49
Available for download
Persons
Victor Gregg was born in London in 1919 and joined the army in 1937, serving first in the Rifle Brigade in Palestine and North Africa, notably at the Battle of Alamein, and then with the Parachute Regiment, at the Battle of Arnhem. As a prisoner of war he survived the bombing of Dresden to be repatriated in 1946, and now lives in Winchester. The story of his adult years, Rifleman, was published by Bloomsbury in 2011, and the prequel, King's Cross Kid, in 2013, they were both co-written with Rick Stroud.
Rick Stroud is a writer and film director. As well as working with Victor Gregg on Rifleman and King's Cross he is the author of The Book of the Moon, The Phantom Army of Alamein and, most recently, Kidnap in Crete. He lives in London.
Rick Stroud is a writer and film director. As well as working with Victor Gregg on Rifleman and King's Cross he is the author of The Book of the Moon, The Phantom Army of Alamein and, most recently, Kidnap in Crete. He lives in London.