The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A True Story of an Artist, a Spy and a Wartime Scandal
Simon Parkin
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WINNER OF THE WINGATE PRIZE
'Vivid and moving' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
'Excellent . . . a powerful tribute' Guardian
In the summer of 1940, faced with national paranoia, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the internment of all German, Austrian and Italian citizens living in Britain. Most were refugees who had fled Nazi oppression. They now faced imprisonment by the country in which they had staked their trust.
Among the inmates of Hutchinson Internment Camp, on the Isle of Man, were world-renowned artists, musicians and intellectuals: despite their unjust captivity, they remained resilient, transforming their prison into an artistic and academic community.
Meticulously researched and grippingly recounted, The Island of Extraordinary Captives tells the story of history's most remarkable group of prisoners - and how they found hope even in the most challenging of circumstances.
'Riveting . . . an account of cinematic vividness' New York Times Book Review
'Eye-opening, insightful and brilliantly written' Daily Mirror
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Praise for The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A True Story of an Artist, a Spy and a Wartime Scandal
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By shining a light upon the government's decision to intern the innocent, Simon Parkin's eye-opening, insightful and brilliantly written book serves as a timely reminder of the dangers of populism - Daily MirrorExtraordinary yet previously untold true story...meticulously researched...it's also taut, compelling, and impossible to put down - Daily ExpressCompelling...In this "university of captives", Parkin has unearthed a small and riveting chunk of wartime history, easily overlooked. - The TelegraphVivid and moving...Spotlights a sorry aspect of Britain's war which deserves to be better known - Sunday TimesCompelling...In this "university of captives", Parkin has unearthed a small and riveting chunk of wartime history, easily overlooked. - Daily TelegraphThe wealth of primary sources through which Parkin has trawled fill its pages with life; his enthusiasm for his subject fills it with affection. The reader is left with a powerful sense of Weissenborn's verdict on Hutchinson: to turn a prison camp into a university "was a miracle of the human will to live and to work". - The TimesMeticulously researched - Literary ReviewParkin [has an] inimitable capacity to find the human pulse in the underbelly of Britain's war...The Island of Extraordinary Captives is multi-layered...definitely worth the deep dive into Britain's inglorious war, when desperate men and women were disregarded, abused and left to fester in a humiliating no man's land. It's a reminder that conflict has always been a convenient mask behind which thuggery and xenophobia thrive. Yet, despite the stark injustice it describes, it is a curiously exhilarating read: an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane. - The Spectator
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