Piece of Cake

This was one of the first books I read showing how, in 1939, no one knew how to fight a major air war. I didn’t know that meant the first year of World War II would be a series of bloody, deadly experiments.

This book brings out this uncertainty and the often-fatal consequences for a squadron of RAF pilots flying Hawker Hurricanes in defense of France. I’ve always loved the Hurricane, and wondered what it would be like to fly for the RAF in that time and place, to sit in the cockpit of a Hawker Hurricane, and be both… show more.

An absolute classic in the WW2 Aviation novel genre, written by the Booker-nominated Derek Robinson and a high-water mark for my own writing.

It tells the story of Hornet Squadron during the ‘Phony War’ and then the very live war in France and the Battle of Britain. With wonderful dialogue, the bleakest of black humor, vivid, gory battle, and action-filled scenes, it tells the story of the flawed heroes defending Britain in its darkest hour.

In my own writing I try to emulate the master’s characterization and humanity, his deft touch on the psychology and trauma required from individuals to… show more.

Robinson’s evergreen work of fiction shines forever bright thanks to his gritty characterisation of the realities of life in a fighter squadron in France, and later in post-Dunkirk Britain, in 1940. You’ll not find any of the usual stereotypes in Hornet Squadron, yet the characters are quickly made real in the reader’s mind, familiar and grotesque in equal measure as they struggle to overcome the inertia of RAF combat doctrine, the frictions of class prejudice, the joys of impossible love and the clash of incompatible personalities, all while fighting for their lives in the cockpits of their near-obsolete Hurricane fighters… show more.