Product Description

They served it ice-cold in Alex - pale amber Rheingold beer in tall, dewy glasses. This is the image that haunts Captain George Anson. Stationed in the North African desert just before the fall of Tobruk, an ice-cold lager seems a million miles away. When Anson is detailed to escort two nursing sisters to Alexandria, it looks as though his wish is finally about to come true - a routine assignment, with a lager at the end of it as his reward. But what starts out as a routine journey soon becomes an epic. Forced to drive further and further south in order to escape the advancing German Army, Anson and his small party are soon on the edge of the Great Sand Sea. As they battle with the physical agonies of a six- hundred-mile drive through the desert it soon becomes apparent that each member of the group has his or her own private struggles to resolve. Not only that, but with a Nazi agent in their midst, it is clear that not all of them are going to make it to Alexandria...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270571 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Christopher Landon served with the 51st Field Ambulance in North Africa during WWII. After the war he wrote several novels, including A Flag in the City, Stone Cold Dead in the Market, and Hornet's nest. His most famous novel, however, was Ice Cold in Alex, which was made into an internationally famous movie, starring John Mills.

Customer Reviews

There'll always be Alex
It would be hard to find anyone who, having seen the film version of this book, doesn't find the film moving. It is rightly proclaimed to be one of the best World War Two films made.
Set against the book, the film is pretty accurate, and despite one or two deviations from the original text, is thoroughly moving. What you get with the book though is a deeper sounding of what is up with Captain Anson and the relationship he has with Sergeant Major Tom Pugh.
The hero's journey is here laid out in greater detail than could ever be seen in the format of a film. Both Anson and Pugh, and the character Zimmermann (van der Poel in the film) and Nursing Sister Diana Murdoch, evolve through the novel and all can claim to have made a breakthrough change by its conclusion. The book is charged throughout with `hope' and ends with the sun going down on the characters' long rite of passage and talk of a new voyage starting tomorrow.

As good as the film
If you love the film you will love this! A few bits differ from the film but makes it more interesting.