Long Journey Home

After her father's death, Katrina Kittel opens his old Globite suitcase and finds tiny photos, postcards in beautiful handwriting from a mysterious Swiss woman, and memorabilia from his war.

Katrina Kittel's father, Colin Booth, was captured during the disastrous July 1942 attempt to take Alamein's Ruin Ridge. He was among 80,000 Allied soldiers sent to camps in northern Italy as prisoners of war.

They suffered cruel punishments for petty offences, hunger, and illness, and they were used as forced labour on farms. When news arrived of the Italian armistice with the Allies in September 1943, POWs escaped the camps, scattering across the countryside.

Col was among those who headed north, aiming for neutral Switzerland. Life in the camps had been challenging, but not nearly as nerve-racking as life on the run, as they dodged German soldiers, Royalist sympathisers, and fascist loyalists, while scrounging for food and shelter, trying to reach the navigable mountain passes before winter set in. Kind Italians shared what they could, but for some impoverished mountain villagers, the 4000-lire German bounty for a captured POW was very tempting.

An enthralling read. Kittel's book sheds new light on a little-known aspect of the war. Tom Gilling

Captures the rawness, the resilience and the humanity of this little-known theatre of war. Susan Jacobs

Astonishing stories of courage and survival under the most extreme circumstances—giving voice at last to the forgotten men behind the uniforms. Paul Livingston

Deeply affecting and profoundly important. Tony Albert

Rich in personal stories and deeply researched. Karl James