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The Island of Extraordinary Captives by Simon Parkin
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The Island of Extraordinary Captives

A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp

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Narrator Elliot Fitzpatrick

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Length 12 hours 46 minutes
Language English
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The “riveting…truly shocking” (The New York Times Book Review) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and—possibly—genuine spies.

Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo’s roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a Kindertransport rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled.

During Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers—so-called “enemy aliens”—be interned.

When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history’s most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them—one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter’s past.

Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an “extraordinary yet previously untold true story” (Daily Express) that serves as a “testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice” (The New Yorker) and “an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane” (The Spectator).

Simon Parkin is an award-winning British journalist and author. A contributing writer for The New Yorker, he has also written for The GuardianThe ObserverThe New York TimesHarper’s MagazineThe New Statesmen (UK), the BBC, and other publications. He is the author of The Island of Extraordinary Captives (winner of the Wingate Literary Prize), A Game of Birds and Wolves, and Death by Video Game, and his work has been featured in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He was named a finalist in the Foreign Press Association Media Awards and is the recipient of two awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Parkin lives in West Sussex, England.

Audiobook details

Author:

Narrator:
Elliot Fitzpatrick

ISBN:
9781797142654

Length:
12 hours 46 minutes

Language:
English

Publisher:
Simon & Schuster Audio

Publication date:

Edition:
Unabridged

Libro.fm rank:
#43,632 Overall

Genre rank:
#3,778 in History

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The perfect last-minute gift

Audiobook credit bundles can be delivered instantly, given worldwide, and support local bookstores!

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Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

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Reviews

"An audiobook with the word “extraordinary” in the title rarely is, but this is the exception. In every sense, from the remarkable and memorable story of survival to narrator Elliot Fitzpatrick’s superb performance, this is another account of the lengths those fleeing the Nazis would go to survive...Fitzpatrick’s presentation captures the situation with a precise style that highlights the fear, hope, and other emotions of Fleischmann and his fellow captives. Listeners will recall the audiobook’s many characters long after the production ends." Expand reviews
The perfect last-minute gift Shop credit bundles