Product Description

World War One aviators were more than just soldiers they were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised the gallant young heroes. But for Stanley Woolley, commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron, the romance of chivalry in the clouds is just a myth. There are two types of men up there: victims and murderers, and the code he drums into his men bans any notion of sport or fair play. This produces better killers but, even so, Wolley believes the whole squadron will be dead within three months. Derek Robinson quietly builds the day-to-day details of these mens lives and deaths into a powerful indictment of war. But this classic of war literature is also very funny, often painfully so; Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this is Derek Robinson's masterly novel of the war in the air over the Western Front in 1918.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98764 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Although Derek Robinson is best known for his novels about the Royal Flying Corps and the RAF, he read history at Cambridge and each of his works of fiction is written around a rigorously researched skeleton of fact. Reviewers have remarked on the 'authenticity' and 'unsparing accuracy' which provide 'a solid documentary underpinning' (of Goshawk Squadron, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.)

Customer Reviews

A splendid series begins
Robinson writes excellently here and in his other books about fliers in WW1 and WW2. Dark, funny and best of all unsentimental. I've just finished "A Damned Good Show" - easily as good as its predecessors - so unless he writes another one (come on Derek) I'll have to reread Goshawk and co. If this is your maiden flight with Hornet Squadron, you're very lucky.

A strong, bitter and tragic first novel
when I read this book I was surprised that it was first published in 1971,it still seems fresh, sharp and witty today. The story Robinson puts accross is of an inexperienced unit being kicked (quite literally)into shape by their bitter CO, Stanley Wooley. The novel is set in the closing months of the Great war and the reader really gets the sense of how weary all the characters must have been after four years of war. The descriptions of action in the air and life on the ground are convincing, and not giving too much away - the end was probably the best way to conclude a novel of this nature.

Excellent story, from beginning to end...
This book should be re-released and read by everybody, its mix of dark humour and appalling frankness about war continually has you rolling from laughter to crying... It was nominated for the Booker prize when it was in print, and you can tell why... Robinson immerses you in the Squadron, and you realise how things must have been for those men... A BRILLIANT read... If your in Publishing... PLEASE Reprint it... It's a crime it isn't available to everyone....