First Light

Vivid, wholly convincing, compelling. One of the best memoirs for years about the experience of flying in war -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *
It took him 35 years to turn his notebooks into a narrative, and the result is a highly personal account of what it is like to face mortal combat, day and night, and what it does to a man who is barely more than a boy -- Ben Macintyre
An intimate account . . . rich in detail * Wall Street Journal, 'Five Best World War II Memoirs' *
An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone * Independent *
A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure * Daily Express *
Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story * Evening Standard *
There have been countless books about the Battle of Britain. But the combination of immediacy - Geoffrey Wellum had jotted down notes in an exercise book at the time - and distance - another 35 years would pass before he expanded his notes into a narrative - gives this account extraordinary depth and resonance . . . First Light will rank among the finest of Second World War memoirs * Independent *
One of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written * Guardian *
Wellum's story is astonishing . . . moving yet startlingly clear-eyed * Telegraph *
No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light * Daily Express *