The Last Enemy

Richard Hillary was one of the great heroes of World War Two. 

And 'The Last Enemy' is one of the best books to emerge from that epic conflict. 

A fighter pilot in the Second World War Hillary was shot down and was in hospital for some months as part of Archibald McIndoe’s ‘Guinea Pig Club’. 

He underwent plastic surgery to rebuild his face and hands, and his account is all the more startling given that it was published in 1942. 

Hillary crashed fatally the next year, and his memoir has become a standard text. 

It was republished in 2010 with a new introduction by Sebastian Faulks, who has written about Hillary in his own fiction. 

‘The Last Enemy’ is a thrilling memoir and gripping historical account of the Second World War. 

“The Last Enemy rapidly acquired the aura of a book that says something vital, whose importance goes beyond what it literally describes” – author Sebastian Faulks 

“This slim volume of Hillary's seems to have a weight which makes it sink into the depths of one's memory, while tons of printed bulk drift as flotsom on its surface” – critic Arthur Koestler 

“One of the classic books of World War Two” - Philip French, London Review of Books 

“Rivetingly well told...It will still speak to anyone who cares for the romance and tragedy of a lost hero.” – Sunday Times 

Richard Hillary was born in Australia in 1919 and died serving as a fighter pilot in 1943. He fought in the Battle of Britain but was shot down in September 1940, whereupon he underwent surgery and rehabilitation. He wrote about this in The Last Enemy. 

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