Monopoli Blues

In November 1944, Sub Lt Bob Clark, a twenty-year old agent with Britain s top-secret Special Operations Executive, parachuted into northern Italy. He left behind the girl he had fallen in love with, Marjorie, his radio operator.

Captured by the enemy, Bob s fate hangs in the balance and Marjorie won t know for six months whether he is alive or dead.

Monopoli Blues recounts the story of Tim Clark s journey to uncover the story of his parents war and the truth behind the betrayal of his father s Clarion mission to the Nazis...

"Monopoli Blues puts the big picture in perspective. It is a detailed and intimate account of the Second World War drama as it affected two individuals who are in love and who are separated by the conflict. The story is the more powerful for being told by their son, Tim Clark. His assiduous search uncovers the drama and danger of facing a British agent who is betrayed and captured by the Nazis and whose girlfriend has no clue what has happened to him. This is the reality of war behind the headlines."Jonathan Dimbleby

Tim Clark was born in London and grew up in the South of England. After leaving school shortly after his 17th birthday, he lived for a year in the United States - in New York and Seattle - before spending 4 months on the road travelling across 48 states in a Greyhound bus. Tim returned to the UK to take up a place at Cambridge University where he studied Modern European and nineteenth century US history. One of his tutors was Professor Norman Stone. Tim originally planned to remain in Cambridge after graduating to take up the offer of studying for a PHD in European history but decided to take a break from academic life in favour of further travels and some "work experience" - a break which lasted for the rest of his life. Having travelled in Italy, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan, he returned to qualify as a lawyer in one of the leading law firms in the world. He spent a large part of his career working at the firm specialising in M+A and corporate work in the UK and internationally. He became a partner at the age of 32 and, ultimately, Senior Partner of the firm. Since retiring as a lawyer, Tim has taken on various roles including board positions on a number of corporate, arts and charitable organisations (including the National Theatre and WaterAid) and senior advisory roles at a number of international think tanks (including Chatham House) and a business intelligence company. He also co-founded an innovative organisation which supports lawyers who are seeking charitable and other board roles. Tim grew up in the aftermath of the Second World War when there were many people whose lives had been changed by the experience of war. It formed the basis of Tim's interest in the history of the first half of the 20th Century. He has read a wide range of books about World War II including many personal memoirs - as part of a general focus on history which has remained as an interest since university. Tim is a qualified pilot and has flown over 2,000 hours - some of which were spent on research for the book. He flies both single and twin engine aircraft in Europe and was, until recently, the Chairman of the Royal Air Squadron. He speaks (reasonable) Italian. Tim decided to co-author this book in order to learn more about, and tell the extraordinary story of, his parents meeting in wartime at the age of 19 and their period in special forces. It was a story which was almost completely unknown - not least because his father consistently refused to talk about it. The story has taken 3 years to piece together covering UK, Italy and Germany - involving extensive research, a number of hugely rewarding and often emotional meetings and some extraordinary bits of luck.

Nick Cook's career as an author, journalist, broadcaster and entrepreneur is underpinned by a passion for history, technology and aviation. In 1986, Nick joined the world-renowned Jane's Defence Weekly, initially as a reporter, rising quickly to become Aviation Editor, a position he held until 2005. It was during his first years at Jane's that Nick started to write books, his first novel, Angel, Archangel, being published in 1989 in the UK by Pan MacMillan and in the US by St. Martin's Press to critical acclaim. In 1991, Nick followed up with his second novel, Aggressor, which was set in the turbulent world of the contemporary Middle East. With the post-Cold War 1990s a period of high demand at Jane's, Nick throttled back on his book-writing career, ghost-writing a number of Sunday Times bestsellers whilst simultaneously delivering a series of exclusives for Jane's. Several of these - a second, secret hostage rescue mission in Iran and the first-ever pictures of the near-mythical Soviet `Caspian Sea Monster' - made headlines all over the world.