Author of new WW2 thriller coming to Sidmouth

The Devon author of a new WW2 thriller is coming to Sidmouth next month.

Graham Hurley will be speaking at Sidmouth Library on Tuesday 11 July at 3pm about his new book The Blood of Others, the eighth instalment in his Spoils of War series.

The novel is about a disastrous 1942 attack on Dieppe, known as Operation Jubilee, seen from both sides through the eyes of a Canadian journalist and a German intelligence officer.

Graham said: "The Blood of Others is the book I've always wanted to write. It's about the very brief descent of thousands of Allied troops, mainly Canadians, onto the beaches of Dieppe at dawn on 19 August 1942, the latest of a series of expeditions masterminded by an outfit called Combined Operations. 

"Combined Ops was the brainchild of Louis Mountbatten, the youngest Vice Admiral since Nelson. But unlike earlier Combined Ops, Operation Jubilee was a disaster. Over six thousand troops landed under intense fire from the waiting Germans. That same night less than half made it back to Portsmouth and Newhaven.

"When researching the Dieppe raid and my understanding of events deepened, I began to glimpse ways in which an over-ambitious plan, flawed on several levels, had made it through the countless conversations and top-level conferences that should have never happened. The events of 19 August, 1942, in short, was the textbook example of how the best and most ambitious of intentions can so easily turn into a bloodbath."

Before his writing career, Hurley reportedly worked for ITV for 15 years and filmed documentaries on Dunkirk, Dieppe and D-Day.

Tickets cost £5 and can be booked by calling 01395 512192 or emailing [email protected].