Tunnel 29

It's the summer of 1962, and Berlin is a city cleaved in two by the notorious Berlin Wall. Joachim Rudolph, a daring student, has just made a dramatic escape from East Berlin's oppressive regime. Yet, rather than savouring his new-found freedom in the West, he makes the audacious decision to tunnel back under the Wall to help others achieve the same liberty. This courageous endeavour becomes the focal point of Helena Merriman's masterfully crafted narrative, Tunnel 29.

As Joachim and his fellow diggers painstakingly excavate their way through dense clay and cold, wet earth, an incredible story of courage, ingenuity, and treachery unfolds. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin are dozens of men, women, and children, all prepared to risk everything for the chance to escape to freedom. Unbeknownst to them, however, their heroic operation has been infiltrated by a Stasi spy, adding a layer of intense suspense to their perilous mission.

Helena Merriman's Tunnel 29 is an electrifying real-life thriller that immerses readers in the sights, sounds, and emotions of one of the most remarkable escape attempts from East Germany. Drawing extensively from hundreds of hours of survivor interviews and thousands of pages of Stasi documents, Merriman vividly brings to life the experiences of the ingenious student-diggers, a seductive red-haired courier, an American news network that films the escape, and the inevitable betrayals that endanger their lives.

Merriman excels at recreating the visceral reality of their experiences: the gritty smell of clay, the haunting click-clack of a woman's high heels on the street above, and the suffocating fear of being discovered. The book's chapters on the day of the escape are particularly gripping, delivering heart-pounding suspense that rivals any fictional thriller.

Guardian: "Merriman excels at recreating the physicality of their experiences: the smell of dense clay, the click-clack of a woman walking down the street above in high heels... Merriman has burrowed her way deep into interviews, news reports and Stasi files to fashion an impressive real-life page-turner."

Observer: "An audacious and compelling tale, told with narrative tension and novelistic drive, creating a fascinating portrayal of life in Berlin in the early days of the Wall."

The Times: "A fantastic story, exceedingly well told... more gripping than a thriller. The story arc, through betrayal and disaster to triumph, is perfect... a cracking tale that deserves retelling."

Scotsman: "Helena Merriman's book is a tour de force... The chapters on the day of the escape are possibly the most suspenseful I have ever read, in fiction as well as nonfiction."

Sunday Business Post: "its skilful blend of a dynamic protagonist, intrigue, spooks, deception, and a love divided imbues Tunnel 29 with all the qualities of a taut Cold War spy thriller."

Economist: "Captivating... Ms Merriman's well-crafted book does justice to the extraordinary bravery of her characters."

BBC History Magazine: "This new book... allows readers to slip into Joachim's shoes as if living this extraordinary experience... This is a remarkable tale, beautifully told and utterly compelling."

Tunnel 29 is about what happens when people lose their freedom - and how some will do anything to win it back. A testament to the resilience of the human spirit, this enthralling narrative is both a gripping thriller and a profound exploration of the lengths to which people will go to achieve liberty.