Description

Requiem for a Wren

by Nevil Shute

Hardback 1956 edition book with dust jacket  

In 1944, Nevil Shute was involved in the top secret preparations for D-Day, which were taking place in and around the stone frigate, HMS Mastodon (Exbury House, Hampshire).

On the 18th April 1944, a lone Junkers 188 bomber flew slowly over the Isle of Wight, and then over the Solent to the Hampshire coast where it was shot down and crashed in a field next to the water tower of HMS Mastodon.

When it was discovered that there were seven airmen on the aircraft, all of whom died in the crash, it raised a number of questions …

What was the plane doing flying around on its own, and why were there seven crew members when a surveillance or bombing mission would require half that number?

The mystery provides the fulcrum for Nevil Shute’s poignant story, Requiem for a Wren, about a young woman and her service colleagues, bound together in the momentous events before, during and after D-Day.

This is a novel you won’t want to put down!

The Junkers incident is recorded in John Stanley’s book The Exbury Junkers.