Three commandos. Cut off. Surrounded. Desperate.

A classic of war fiction and a major film.

They were three soldiers, on watch in the French countryside, their base a disused barn. Three ordinary men seconded into the horrors of World War II, each with his own ideals, his own feelings, his own fears.

Their task was a nightmare of waiting. German forces were stationed over the brow of a hill, and every moment of every day passed in nerve-shattering anticipation of their first clash. When the clash finally came, it was not merely a battle of force and brutality but a complex and murderous struggle between the cunning and ruthlessness of both sides...

The Long Day's Dying is a novel that portrays the horror of war. Once taken up, it cannot be put down; once read, it will never be forgotten.

'Extraordinarily powerful ... at times harrowing but always gripping. Its authenticity and credibility is rooted in the experience of the author, who led a commando unit in Occupied Europe during the Second World War. The story draws on his experiences in an unflinching manner, turning the fields, hills and hedgerows of the front line into the stage for a drama of the most compelling kind' Alex Gerlis, author of Prince of Spies

'A war novel that invokes the classical unities of time and action... A gripping read' Sunday Times

'I think it's the best thing of its kind I've ever read. I literally couldn't put it down' Leslie Charteris, author of The Saint novels

'A tense and convincing fragment of war' Observer

'Fiercely authentic... a short, concentrated bark of a story' Sunday Telegraph