The Big Pickup

by Elleston Trevor, Robert Mundy (Read by)

THE BIG PICK-UP is a gripping and uncompromising story of WW II.

Set entirely in France, Elleston Trevor's powerful novel revolves around a ragged platoon of war-weary and humiliated British soldiers retreating from the German onslaught. With their morale collapsing, with enemy tanks behind them and enemy dive-bombers overhead, they trek to Dunkirk and the expected safety of evacuation.

Dunkirk was a disaster, but the army's salvation by a flotilla of little boats was a miracle.

Genres: Historical Fiction, War, British Literature

Audio Cassette

First published October 1, 1967

About the author

Author has published other books under the names: Adam Hall, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Trevor Dudley-Smith, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Simon Rattray, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, Lesley Stone.

Author Trevor Dudley-Smith was born in Kent, England on February 17, 1920. He attended Yardley Court Preparatory School and Sevenoaks School. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer. After the war, he started writing full-time. He lived in Spain and France before moving to the United States and settling in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1946 he used the pseudonym Elleston Trevor for a non-mystery book, and later made it his legal name. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Roger Fitzalan, Howard North, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith, and Lesley Stone. Even though he wrote thrillers, mysteries, plays, juvenile novels, and short stories, his best-known works are The Flight of the Phoenix written as Elleston Trevor and the series about British secret agent Quiller written as Adam Hall. In 1965, he received the Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for The Quiller Memorandum. This book was made into a 1967 movie starring George Segal and Alec Guinness. He died of cancer on July 21, 1995.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1955, I read this first years ago from my public library and just finished rereading the 1967 Avon paperback edition. The novel was also used in the 1958 film Dunkirk (credits given to Trevor Dudley Smith for this book) alongside two other books - and starred John Mills, Richard Attenborough, and Bernard Lee, directed by Leslie Norman. I mention this because the film can be found I believe on YouTube and on some streaming services and I intend to track it down because recollections of the film 'illustrated' my rereading of this novel. The story begins with the main characters and as many as 200 comrades being ordered to destroy any equipment they can't carry and began making their way to the French coast where they will be picked up by the Royal Navy. Almost two thirds of the book recount this trek by car and on foot as well as the encounters with French refugees, Tommies and RAF personnel from other units making the same trek, all the while being worried by German troops, tanks, and aircraft. Only the last few chapters deal with the experiences in and around Dunkirk, on its beaches, and during their crossing of the channel. The author's clean descriptive writing style is easy to read and follow even during some of the most brutal extremes of the experience. He's been a favorite for many years though I've actually read only a few, perhaps because being British, many of his books haven't penetrated the American market.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1940, more than 338,000 men were taken off Dunkirk beach in an operation that became a legend. This epic film recreates the event.

[Jaanus Tramberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistic novel of the British retreat to Dunkirik.

[Mike Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice - I like his style.
Not as good as Squadron Airborne, but better than most fiction I've read recently.