My best read this past year was The Narrow Road to the Deep North, the 2014 Booker Prize winner by Richard Flanagan.
Very harrowing indeed. Great book.
I've just finished George Millar's book Maquis about his time as the SOE agent in the Besancon area. Amazing story and really well written. "Horned Pigeon", his account of his escape as a POW and successful return to Blighty is next on my "to buy" list
I'm now reading Billy Moss's account of his and Paddy Leigh Fermor's kidnapping of German General Heinrich Kreipe on Crete in 1944. Very good too.
I'm on a bit of a kick on this sort of thing as before that I had re-read Fitzroy Maclean's wonderful "Eastern Approaches", which I last read about 30 years ago. Even better second time around as my appreciation of the history of that period is much greater than when I was a feckless youth. In particular the part of the book covering his time in Yugoslavia with Tito is really fascinating.
Also really enjoyed re-reading Olivia Manning's Balkan trilogy followed by her Levant trilogy (which I'd not previously read; as they are a sequel to the Balkan Trilogy I decided to re-read that first).
My other recent reads have been two of JG Farrell's Empire trilogy; "Troubles" and "The siege of Krishnapur". I still have the final one, "The Singapore Grip" to go. He's up there with Paul Scott for fiction about the legacy of Britain's Imperial past.
