Product Description
"The story is brilliantly executed... Nath’s biggest success is the sustained atmospheric tension that he creates somewhat effortlessly."
- Little Interpretations
"A haunting and bittersweet novel that stays with you long after the final chapter – always the sign of a really well-written and praiseworthy story. It would also make an excellent screenplay."
- Historical Novels Review - Editor's Choice, Feb 2011
Nazi-occupied Aquitaine, 1943: A beautiful young woman is found murdered in the shadow of the Bergerac Prefecture. Auguste Ran, Assistant Chief of Police, suspects Brunner, a German Security Police Major, of the crime. The more Auguste investigates, the more obsessed he becomes with bringing down the seemingly untouchable Brunner.
Auguste begins to realise he has been conveniently ignoring the Nazi atrocities going on around him, and understands too late the human cost of his own participation in the internment of the local Jewish population.
Driven by conscience and struggling with his Catholic religious beliefs, his actions start to put his own family at risk. Harbouring the daughter of his lifelong Jewish friend Pierre, they are forced into a desperate trek towards neighbouring Switzerland, pursued all the way by the German Sicherheitspolizei.
'The Cyclist' is the first in Fred Nath's series of World War II dramas. The adventures continue in 'Farewell Bergerac' (available now) and 'Francesca Pascal' (coming soon).
- Little Interpretations
"A haunting and bittersweet novel that stays with you long after the final chapter – always the sign of a really well-written and praiseworthy story. It would also make an excellent screenplay."
- Historical Novels Review - Editor's Choice, Feb 2011
Nazi-occupied Aquitaine, 1943: A beautiful young woman is found murdered in the shadow of the Bergerac Prefecture. Auguste Ran, Assistant Chief of Police, suspects Brunner, a German Security Police Major, of the crime. The more Auguste investigates, the more obsessed he becomes with bringing down the seemingly untouchable Brunner.
Auguste begins to realise he has been conveniently ignoring the Nazi atrocities going on around him, and understands too late the human cost of his own participation in the internment of the local Jewish population.
Driven by conscience and struggling with his Catholic religious beliefs, his actions start to put his own family at risk. Harbouring the daughter of his lifelong Jewish friend Pierre, they are forced into a desperate trek towards neighbouring Switzerland, pursued all the way by the German Sicherheitspolizei.
'The Cyclist' is the first in Fred Nath's series of World War II dramas. The adventures continue in 'Farewell Bergerac' (available now) and 'Francesca Pascal' (coming soon).
About the Author
Fred Nath is a full time neurosurgeon. He lives in the northeast of England with his wife and daughter, his three sons having grown up and flown the coop. In his time, he has run twenty consecutive Great North Run half-marathons, trekked to 6000m in Nepal, crossed the highest mountain pass in the world and began writing, like John Buchan, "because he ran out of penny-novels to read and felt he should write his own." Fred loves a good story, which is why he writes.
