Goshawk Squadron - Softcover

Robinson, Derek

4.09

914 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857052241 ISBN 13: 9780857052247

Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2016

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

World War One pilots were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised them as gallant young heroes.

At just twenty-three, Major Stanley Woolley is the old man and commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron. He abhors any notion of chivalry in the clouds and is determined to obliterate the decent, gentlemanly outlook of his young, public school-educated pilots - for their own good.

But as the war goes on he is forced to throw greener and greener pilots into the meat grinder. Goshawk Squadron finds its gallows humour and black camaraderie no defence against a Spandau bullet to the back of the head.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Derek Robinson read history at Cambridge before working in advertising in London and New York. Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1971.

Review:

'Robinson is probably the best novelist ever to write about fighter combat: surprising, hyper-realistic and very, very dark' Spectator. * Spectator * 'Fit to sit on the same shelf as Waugh and Heller ... Robinson's recreation of the exhausted savagery of 1918 is truly shocking' Mike Petty, Slightly Foxed. * Slightly Foxed * 'Robinson mixes the action with cynicism and hard-bitten humour that has you halfway between tears and laughter. Biggles was never like this' Express. * Express * 'Derek Robinson does for the Royal Flying Corps what the War Poets did for frontline soldiers' Sarah Edworthy, Daily Telegraph. * Daily Telegraph *

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.