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Pied Piper (Paperback)

by Nevil Shute (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 35 pages
  • Publisher: Mandarin; New edition edition (4 Oct 1990)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0749304111
  • ISBN-13: 978-0749304119
  • Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11.1 x 1.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 309,471 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #91 in  Books > Fiction > Genre > War > Second World War

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Product Description

Review

Nevil Shute, in a compact, realistic story, achieves somewhat the effect Nathan strived for in his last novel. They Went On Together. He has a faculty for seizing upon contemporary drama and weaving it into a story with very human elements. This is the story of a conservative, tradition-bound old Englishman, faced with the need to be needed, meeting it with quiet courage and no bombast. He is caught by the rumors of German invasion while on holiday in the Jura mountains, and is asked to take two English children to safety in England. In their checkered progress across invaded France, he takes under his wing other children, a niece of the matron at the Inn, a French child whose parents are killed before his eyes, a Dutch urchin- and finally, a German child, whose Jewish blood condemns her to perpetual escape. What a picture of refugee glutted roads, of German dive bombers, of terror- and yet of the sentimental weak spot that exposes even the most hardened to the appeal of sheer goodness. (Kirkus Reviews)


Product Description

Goaded by the evacuation of Dunkirk, a retired solicitor on holiday in the Jura mountains promises to escort two English children to safety. So swift and terrible is the Germans' advance that their progress is slow, and the old man finds himself chaperon to an increasing number of waifs and strays.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Pied Piper
79% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A triumph for the small man, 28 May 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Pied Piper (Paperback)
I first read the Pied Piper at school. It is a classic Nevil Shute - a ordinary man, placed in an extraordinary situation and making the most of it.

The story concerns a retired businessman, who after the death of his son goes to the South of France in the early part of the war. The Germany army seems far away and he spends the time fishing. However as invading troups move South he decides to return home. He is asked to take a young brother and sister, these are just the first of a number of children he acquires as be tries to return to England.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Still Caught After All These Years!, 3 Sep 2007
By F. S. L'hoir (Irvine, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Pied Piper (Paperback)
I first read this book as a child when, identifying with the children who could have been my compeers, I saw the movie at least five times. I loved the book then, and I love it now. The story is simply told, from the point of view of an elderly Englishman, whom we first meet in his London club during the Blitz. Too exhausted to move to a shelter, he begins to tell his tale to a stranger, who has also decided to sit out the raid, while the Luftwaffe's incendiary bombs fall closer and closer. The old man's story unfolds slowly as tells of a fishing holiday in the Jura--the mountains that border France and Switzerland--in the early months of 1939. The story may, in fact, unfold a bit too slowly for some modern readers who have been exposed to the terse squibs that proliferate novels nowadays, but Nevil Shute is such a skillful storyteller that he draws the reader almost unawares into the narrative, rather in the manner of an expert angler reeling in his fish.

Even though I know the story well, I could not put the book down until the very end. I was, after all these years, inextricably hooked.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story...., 7 Jan 2005
This review is from: Pied Piper (Paperback)
I have just finished reading this book. I remember Nevil Shute from my school days. I thought I might find this book a bit old fashioned but gave it a go anyway. Obviously it is of its time but is a great story told in a classic way. The tension is built superbly throughout the book. Having three kids myself I was expecting the descriptions of the children and their behaviour to be weak. I was suprised at how believable it is though. He cleverly uses the children in the book and builds on the relationships between them. This is a great read and highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A stirring story about dark days - but full of hope
Shute wrote this in 1942, and the story plays around spring 1940. It is very much a story of its time, and about those dark days when everything was going wrong for the French,... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Dr. H. Beentje

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, one of his best!
It's very exciting. It catches you until the end. I like it best when the German commander tries to negotiate with the Englishman. Delightful!
Published on 20 Mar 1999

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