A Sailor of Austria

[Dolphin]

A Sailor of Austria by John Biggins, ISBN 1 59013 107 X, is the fictitious memoir of one Linienschiffleutnant Otto Prohaska, a U-boat commander in the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the Great War. As well as the difficulties of submarine warfare, the hero has to content with various diplomatic problems as well. It was originally published in the early 1990s, and has been highly prized since then. It was re-published in the US in 2005 and I bought my copy from amazon in the US, as it wasn't released in Australia.

In summary, the book is excellent, a sort of Patrick O'Brian/George McDonald Fraser cross, but in the setting of the Navy of the moribund Dual Monarchy in the lesser-known conflict in the Mediterranean. The attention to detail is pretty near meticulous, as far as I can tell, given that while I have a reasonable general knowledge of the War, I don't have a detailed one on the Navy concerned - it all seems convincing to me. One extra good point is that the author has an impish sense of humour, that appears now and again and enlivens the text. The disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and just what that meant to the servicemen who remained loyal, is well covered. Importantly for us nitpickers, just about all the actions described could have occurred, though there are some very minor matters to quibble about, such as the Australian Light Horse using lances and there being more than one Handley-Page O/400 in Palestine in 1918. These are very minor points.

The adventures of Otto Prohaska are continued in The Emperor's Coloured Coat, which was printed last year, and The Two-Headed Eagle, to be re-printed in November. With luck, the fourth volume, Tomorrow the World, will appear next year.

If you're looking for very good Great War fiction, you could do very much worse than follow the career of Otto Prohaska.

Gareth

[bob lembke]

Gareth;

These books are great! Friends of my wife, very literate, but not WW I nuts, say they are plotting to kidnapp Biggin's first-born to force him to write more of these. It is good that they are being re-printed; one in particular is very scarce and supposedly brings hundreds of $$s used.

Bob Lembke

[Dolphin]

Bob

I'm now about three-quarters through The Emperor's Coloured Coat, and thoroughly enjoying it. Like A Sailor of Austria, it's one of those books that you love to read, but don't want to finish. The prices being asked for second hand volumes is a testimony to the quality of the writing.

The author has done a fantastic job of writing a series of books set in the Great War period where all the events could have happened.

Regards

Gareth

[tjpatti]

Just giving this book (The Emperor's Coloured Coat ...) a bump. I am 77% through (I know this for a fact because I am reading it on my Kindle) and I'm loving it - don't know how accurate it is but it's jolly good fun and, if you're looking for a book to take on holiday with you, this has to be a serious contender.

Regards and happy reading,

Teresa