Headline Books

1943, the North African desert. Major Tim Sheldon, exhausted and battle weary, is tasked with carrying out a futile and unexpected patrol mission. Fred Majdalany's intimate, tense novel puts this so-called minor action centre stage, as over the course of the day and through the night of the patrol itself, Sheldon reminisces about his time as a soldier, his own future, and what it means to confront fear. Based on Fred Majdalany's own wartime experience with the Lancashire Fusiliers in North Africa, this new edition of a 1953 classic includes a contextual introduction from IWM which sheds new light on the true events that so inspired its author.