Contact
Type
Price
Date
Current Price
Out Of Stock
2023-10-30
Highest Price
-
-
Lowest Price
-
-

Contact

This newly expanded edition of AFN Clarke's best selling and controversial book CONTACT is a raw, visceral, "no-holds-barred" account of combat from one of the men we paid to kill. When first published it caused a furore for its devastating honesty and chilling revelations. 


Clarke vividly recounts his experiences of two tours in Northern Ireland (in Belfast and Crossmaglen) as a Platoon Commander with Britain's elite Parachute Regiment during the blood soaked 1970's. Eerily similar to soldiers' experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan today, the enemy wears no uniform and shoots from the shadows and the bomber's trip-wire is an ever-present nightmare. 

Clarke takes us to heart of the action. We enter the private world of soldiers, operating in conditions of extreme stress. We experience their emotions, fear, courage, humour, bravado and the anguish of death. 

This expanded edition reveals a section omitted by the publisher from the original edition, revealing the untold nightmare Clarke lived through having nearly died, with half his insides missing, suffering from PTSD and being expected to return to a "normal life". A story of the scars of war that affect generations. Of heartache, courage and hope for peace. (Available in ebook and paperback format.)

REVIEWS
 "...the best account we have had of what it is like to serve in Northern Ireland..." Richard West, The Times Literary Supplement. 

 " ... a major contribution to our understanding of war and how people act ... Contact is the work of a brave writer." Kevin Toolis, Irish News. 

"Captain Clarke is more than a serving solder, he is a writer of distinction." Jack Gerson, Glasgow Sunday Standard.  

"...Contact is one of the best military stories that I have ever read and I recommend it to you in the highest terms; it's a book from a past conflict that has timely and resonant lessons for a present one." Steven McLaughlin, Author of Squaddie: A Soldier's Story. UK 2010. 

"An excellent book... I can relate to all places he speaks of having served at those locations as Infantry. A truthful & honest account of a Soldier in a War that was never acknowledged by those who sent us." Eugene Murray, UK 2013.

"A very truthful account... As an ex Infantry man myself of the era, this book speaks for us all about our time in Ulster." Peter Poland, UK 2013. 

 "Clarke's tale of his actions in Northern Ireland are eye-opening to this American... like the stories I have heard first-hand from the men who served in Vietnam." Robert, USA 2013. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
CONTACT was reviewed by soldiers who served with Captain Clarke as verification of his recollections. First published in the UK in 1983 by Martin Secker & Warburg, it was serialized for 5 days in The Mirror, and became an instant best seller. In 1984 it was published in paperback by PAN Books, by Schocken Books New York and made into an award-winning BBC TV film.  The expanded ebook edition was published in 2012, the paperback in 2014. Readers outside the UK are invited to visit Amazon.co.uk for soldier's reviews and comments.

For readers interested in other books by AFN Clarke, though his latest books The Orange Moon Affair and The Jonas Trust Deception are thrillers and works of fiction, they do continue a thread established in CONTACT, revealing the inner turmoil of an ex-soldier who wants nothing more than to forget his past and live a "normal" life but whose circumstances make it difficult to do so.

ABOUT AFN CLARKE
AFN Clarke is a full-time author.  Books include one memoir (CONTACT) and seven books of fiction of various genre: The Orange Moon Affair & The Jonas Trust Deception (Thomas Gunn thrillers); An Unquiet American; Dry Tortugas; Dreams from the Death Age and Armageddon (The Book of Baker Satire Series); Collisions with more coming soon.  Please visit afnclarke.com for more information and leave your email for updates and special offers. Deep appreciation for any reviews.

  • TitleContact
  • ManufacturerSchocken
  • BindingHardcover
  • ProductGroupBook
  • UnitCount1
  • EANs9780805238792