Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II - Softcover

Fraser, George MacDonald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1629142034 ISBN 13: 9781629142036

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

George MacDonald Fraser beloved for his series of Flashman historical novels offers an action-packed memoir of his experiences in Burma during World War II. Fraser offers a firsthand glimpse at the camaraderie, danger, and satisfactions of service. A substantial epilogue, occasioned by the fiftieth anniversary of V-J Day in 1995, adds poignancy to a volume that eminent military historian John Keegan described as one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War.”

In this rattling-good memoir, novelist, historian, and screenwriter Fraser vividly recounts the nerve-racking frontline action he saw while serving as a nineteen-year-old soldier during what turned out to be the last great land campaign of World War II the British army’s ferocious campaign against the Japanese in Burma. The realism of his story, combined with the skills of a talented novelist, create a book of sentiment and excitement. This is unforgettable reading, both for fans of Fraser’s novels and for anyone interested in one of the great battles of World War II.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

About this title

Review:

"No doubt one of the great memoirs of the Second World War." —John Keegan

"Fraser is an excellent popular historian." —Time Magazine

"Quartered Safe Out Here, an account of his experiences as a soldier in the Burma Campaign, is as vivid, compassionate, and courageous a picture of small-scale fighting as any the Second World War produced." —National Review

"George MacDonald Fraser writes superbly." —Washington Post

From the Back Cover:

Life and death in Nine Section, a small group of hard-bitten and (to modern eyes) possibly eccentric Cumbrian borderers with whom the author, then nineteen, served in the last great land campaign of World War II, when the 17th Black Cat Division captured a vital strongpoint deep in Japanese territory, held it against counter-attack and spearheaded the final assault in which the Japanese armies were, to quote General Slim, 'torn apart'.

"This book is as good as anything Fraser has written ... decorated with the beautifully observed dialogue of which he is a master ... a moving and penetrating contribution to the literature of the Burma campaign."
MAX HASTINGS, 'Daily Telegraph'

"A brilliantly entertaining read. With all the narrative power, gift for dialogue and surprising twists and turns that would be expected of Flashman's creator ... Fraser is unrivalled at the storyteller's essential crafts ..."
GARY MEAD, 'Financial Times'

"The sense of front-line danger is palpable and the smell of action is remarkable ... This is battle as it is done"
MELVYN BRAGG, 'Evening Standard'

Includes the epilogue ‘Fifty Years On’ written on the fiftieth anniversary of VJ day.

About this edition

• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1629142034
• ISBN 13: 9781629142036
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264