The Warning Bell

by TomMacaulay (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2009

  $3.45

  For Iain Madoc it all began when he was eight years old and his father took him out on a boat trip. Something George Madoc saw or heard out on the water that day seemed to change him, and after that it was as if Iain didn't have a real father at all. Only later did Iain come to understand that it had all started long before, when George Madoc had commanded an RAF Air-Sea Rescue boat ferrying SOE agents between the south coast and occupied France. One night in April 1944 an operation to bring back a French agent went terribly wrong, and when George finally made it home two months later, he was unable to speak about what had happened. Now, as his mother lies dying, Iain is finally given a clue to unlocking the mystery of what so traumatised his father that he turned away from his own son. The wreck of High Speed Launch 2548 - his father's boat - has been found near the Breton village of St Cyriac, and with it, perhaps, the key to unlocking George Madoc's memories. Desperate to understand, Iain goes to St Cyriac determined to discover the truth. But St Cyriac will not give up its secrets easily. For some people the past is still dangerously alive, and Iain soon finds that his own family may have to pay the price of uncovering it.

• Used

  Paperback
  2010

  $3.45

  France, 1944. Pilot Officer George Madoc is tasked with a covert mission to the occupied coast of Brittany: under cover of night, he must ferry a French secret agent - an assassin - across the St Cyriac Shoals. It is an encounter that changes him for ever. Over sixty years later, his son Iain is offered the key to the mystery which has forced a wedge between him and his father. George's wartime launch has been found and the past is coming back to life. Iain travels to France, desperate to discover the truth, but the village of St Cyriac will not give up its secrets easily. For some, the past is still dangerously alive, and Iain may pay the price of uncovering it...