The Grand Escape, by Neal Bascomb

(Paperback, 288 pages, first published in 2018)

Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi Hunters, returns with a thrilling work of narrative nonfiction about a group of Allied POWs who staged an escape for the ages during World War I.

***Three starred reviews!***

Illustrated throughout with incredible photographs and published on the 100th anniversary of the Holzminden escape!

At the height of World War I, as battles raged in the trenches and in the air, another struggle for survival was being waged in the most notorious POW camp in all of Germany: Holzminden. A landlocked Alcatraz of sorts, it was home to the most troublesome Allied prisoners -- and the most talented at escape. The Grand Escape tells the remarkable tale of a band of pilots who pulled off an ingenious plan and made it out of enemy territory in the biggest breakout of WWI, inspiring their countrymen in the darkest hours of the war.

Storyglory Cautions: This is a well-written, suspenseful, surprisingly clean nonfiction account of a lesser-known event in history. It does include one use of "b-----d," one use of "d--n" and two uses of the nickname prisoners gave to the prison camp Holzminden: "Hellminden." It also includes periodic descriptions of WWI trench warfare, death, and POW treatment that are sometimes vivid (e.g., "blankets alive with lice") but age appropriate. 

Recommended Age: 12+