Paul Desautels

The Long War Paul Desautels

In the tradition of the great Second World War novels, THE LONG WAR is the story of David Lindsay, soldier, officer and war hero. Joining the Westmount Fusiliers, an elite assault Regiment, at the start of the war, David Lindsay is taken on a surprising and unexpected journey to England, North Africa, and through the campaigns of Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. During those campaigns David Lindsay fights alongside his sardonic and unpredictable Sergeant Major, Harold T. Bostwick, and a group of soldiers from his company, B Company, who are called the Big Ten. Made prisoner in the attempted Dieppe landing, David Lindsay is brought to Colditz, in Germany. Shortly after he escapes and makes his way to England through France, Spain and over the Pyrenees. Along the way there are interrogations and beatings by the Gestapo, a long flight across France, and an unusual encounter with a Basque guide called Raoul. THE LONG WAR also deals with three magnificent women David Lindsay meets: Barbara Bradford, the young aircraft plotter from Croydon; Jeanne, who runs an escape line called La Ligne Interallié; and Nina Haegen, a German nurse who takes care of him when he is badly wounded. THE LONG WAR is a novel that deals with the very fabric of life itself and with the art of survival and of learning to come to terms with oneself. Above all, it is a study in the responsibilities of command and of what it takes to go on and fulfill those responsibilities.