Harkaway's Sixth Column

An explosive action-packed war drama: four British soldiers are cut off behind enemy lines in British Somaliland and when they decide to utilise a secret arms dump in the Bur Yi hills and fight a rearguard action, an unlikely alliance is sought between two local warring tribes. What follows is an amazing mission led by the brilliant, elusive Harkaway, whose heart is stolen by a missionary when she becomes mixed up in the unorthodox band of warriors.
Views: 41

The Claws of Mercy

In Sierra Leone, a remote bush community crackles with racial tensions. Few white people live amongst the natives of Freetown and Authority seems distant. Everyday life in Freetown revolves around an opencast iron mine, and the man in charge dictates peace and prosperity for everyone. But, for the white population, his leadership is a matter of life or death where every decision is like being snatched by the claws of mercy.
Views: 37

Smiling Willie and the Tiger

The Boer War is finally ending and for three thieves there is the unexpected bonus of stealing an army payroll so large that they have to bury it outside a Free State town until the heat cools off. But the army choose an officer to help track them down. While the thieves wait for an opportunity to return to the stolen bounty, the officer chases them, giving rise to a riotous set of events. Based on a true story, John Harris' adventure entertains and delights in a series of incredulous scenarios brought to glorious life against the backdrop of South Africa's diamond mines.
Views: 31

The Sleeping Mountain

The sleepy red-roofed Italian island of Anapoli, its lazy, leaning buildings pushed against the jagged harbour, dreams on peaceably by the sea. It is here that Tom Patch, an easy-going British artist, finds himself, discarding his mistress and in love with Cecilia. Even the Mayor of Anapoli basks in the sun, listening to goat bells and the rasp of mandolins. But above the unsuspecting residents hangs a malevolent volcano; a terrible destructive power seething below its crust. And the volcano is about to blow.
Views: 31

Getaway

An Italian fisherman and his wife, Rosa, live in Sydney. Hard times are ahead. Their mortgaged boat may be lost and with it, their livelihood. But Rosa has a plan to reach the coast of America from the islands of the Pacific, sailing on a beleaguered little houseboat. The plan seems almost perfect, especially when Willie appears and has his own reasons for taking a long holiday to the land of opportunity.
Views: 25

The Backpacker

For fans of Alex Garland's The Beach, a true story of out-of-control travel "Leaving the blinding sand for the cool shade of the trees, I walked carefully through the undergrowth to where Dave, using two twigs as chopsticks, was picking up a freshly severed human finger . . . " John's trip to India starts badly when his girlfriend, with whom he is traveling, returns home. Left to his own devices, he soon finds himself looking at the sharp end of a knife in a train station cubicle. But his life is saved—and turned upside down—by Rick, an enigmatic fellow traveler who persuades John to question his mundane plans for the future, risking it all for much, much more. Fast forward to the Thai island of Koh Pha-Ngan, where John, Rick, and their new friend Dave pose as millionaire aristocrats in a hedonistic Eden of beautiful women, free drugs, and wild beach parties. However, when they find themselves hotly pursued by the Thai Mafia, they embark on...
Views: 24

The Lonely Voyage

The Lonely Voyage is John Harris' first novel - a graphic, moving tale of the sea. It charts the story of one boy, Jess Ferigo, who winds up on a charge of poaching along with Pat Fee and Old Boxer, the men who sail with him on his journey into manhood. As Jess leaves his boyhood behind, bitter years are followed by the Second World War, where Old Boxer and Jess make a poignant rescue on the sand dunes of Dunkirk. Finally, Jess Ferigo's lonely voyage is over.
Views: 22

North Strike

It is 1939. The Royal Navy urgently needs information about German raiders. There is only one place to get it...the port of Narvik and only one man capable – Magnusson. A story of the daring, outrageous exploits of a spy rescuing British prisoners from the Altmark and swept up in to the German battle for Norway.
Views: 21

Picture of Defeat

It is 1943 and Naples has been looted by the Allies and Axis powers alike, its priceless art treasures coveted by some of the most corrupt criminal minds in Europe. But under the orders of Field Security, Tom Pugh must save the paintings of Detto Banti, no matter what the cost. In this tantalising read, one man stands against a tide of wilful destruction and greed, trying to save a past for the people of Naples' future.
Views: 20

Right of Reply

Struggle, scandal and mutiny run riot in Right of Reply, set in the 1970s in a whirlwind of a political crisis. An invasion is planned by a convoy of British troop ships sighted off the coast of West Africa. A Khanzian base is at stake. The British claim sovereignty but sedition is in the air. Can the British government turn back before it's too late? John Harris leaves us on tenterhooks.
Views: 17

A Funny Place to Hold a War

Ginger Donnelly is on the trail of Nazi saboteurs in Sierra Leone. Whilst taking a midnight paddle with a willing woman in a canoe cajoled from a local fisherman, Donnelly sees an enormous seaplane thunder across the sky only to crash in a ball of brilliant flame. It seems like an accident...at least until a second plane explodes in a blistering shower along the same flight path.
Views: 12

Swordpoint (2011)

It is 1944 and Monte Cassino has become a Nazi stronghold against the Allied advance through Italy. But Cassino must be taken, and the flamboyantly ambitious Brigadier Heathfield has a plan. This is a gripping, intoxicating story about the men of the North Yorkshires, veterans of Africa, hardened to the world.
Views: 9