The Phoenix: A Novel About the Hindenburg - Hardcover

Boetius, Henning; Cullen, John

3.23

93 ratings by Goodreads

9780385501835: The Phoenix: A Novel About the Hindenburg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385501838 ISBN 13: 9780385501835

Publisher: Doubleday, 2001

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While Birger Lund, a passenger on the fateful flight who is presumed dead, changes his name and sets out to find Edmund Boysen, the officer at the controls of the zeppelin when it exploded, Edmund retreats to his childhood home where he soon learns that the politics of Nazi Germany live on and recollects his life and the terror, confusion, and horror before the explosion.

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Review:

‘Impeccably researched, its intensity reminiscent of Ondaatje’s The English Patient.’ Der Spiegel

‘A superlative thirller, a fine book which I put down with a real sense of regret.’ David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

‘Boetius has created an original plot peopled with intensely realized characters, set against a vivid backdrop of prewar politics and the romance of zeppelin flight.’ Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover:

'For all of those who love 'Fatherland' by Robert Harris and Len Deighton's novels, 'The Phoenix' – a brilliant thriller based on the inside story of the airship disaster – is a great find.'

Airships were the Concordes of their era – elegant, exciting, luxurious – and the 'Hindenberg' was Germany's pride. When it mysteriously exploded on arrival in the US in 1936 Goering pronounced the disaster an 'accident'. However, whispers soon circulated that it was sabotage. But by whom and why? And why were some of the survivors declared dead?

Birger Lund is one of the 28 pronounced dead. Horrifically burnt in the flames, he is unrecognisable even to himself, but like the phoenix from the ashes, he arises from the dead with a new face and a new identity. However he realises he cannot embrace his future without confronting his past. So, briefly reunited with the girl he fell in love with ten years before on the 'Hindenberg's' last voyage, he treks across post-war Germany to find the truth. His search leads him to a the remote island off the north coast of Germany – to the home of the last pilot on the 'Hindenberg'. However, the islanders appear not to have accepted the end of the war, and are determined to protect – with violence, if necessary – any secrets that the pilot may have...

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