HULLO RUSSIA, GOODBYE ENGLAND

Derek Robinson read history at Cambridge before working in advertising in London and New York. He has also worked as a broadcaster for radio and television, and was a grassroots rugby referee for thirty years. His novel Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1973.

PRAISE FOR DEREK ROBINSON

“Robinson should be mentioned in the same breath as Mailer, Ballard or Heller. A masterpiece” express

“Tough, taut prose that pulls you through the book like a steel cable... great” Guardian

“Robinson writes with tireless enthusiasm which never sacrifices detail to pace, or vice versa... terrific”  Jennifer Selway, Observer

“Derek Robinson has developed a brand of ‹ripping-yarn› all his own...hard-bitten stuff, anti-Newbolt and anti-Biggles”  Times Literary Supplement

“Robinson is a better storyteller than Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett or Wilbur Smith... His is a rare achievement, difficult to attain and one not much striven for in the current literary output, the creation of poetry in fiction”  Tibor Fischer, The Times

“Robinson has a narrative gift that sets up the hackles of involvement. A rare quality” Paul Scott

“Nobody writes about war quite like Derek Robinson. He has a way of carrying you along with the excitement of it all before suddenly disposing of a character with a casual, laconic ruthlessness that is shockingly realistic... As a bonus, he writes of the random, chaotic comedy of war better than anyone since Evelyn Waugh”  Mike Petty, The Independent

“If the argument that book reviews sell more books is ever proven, then reviews of Robinson’s books should be posted on every wall, hydrant and lease-expired storefront. They should be free with your breakfast cereal. They should be dropped from planes – for the only purpose of reviewing Robinson’s case is to persuade readers who have yet to pick up a Robinson novel to do so in their millions”  Julian Evans, Weekend Post

“Robinson mixes the action with cynicism and hard-bitten humour that has you halfway between tears and laughter. Biggles was never like this”  Daily Express

“The descriptions of patrolling and aerial combat are superlatively well done . . . Stronger tastes will relish the whiff of battiness and brimstone”  Times Literary Supplement