Transcription:

Dear Sirs,

Noticing your advertisement in The Daily Telegraph I am wondering if you would be interested in the publication of a book I have written about my experiences, in 1940 and '41, as NCO i/c of an Advanced Observation Post between the Maginot line and the Siegfried Line, and at the other side of France, in Normandy, being made a prisoner-of-war, then on foot 140 miles to Lille, in Northern France, where I contrived to escape, my subsequent adventures during a 1800 mile perilous journey across enemy-occupied France and Spain -- which was even more dangerous to an Allied eecapee than Occupied France, to Lisbon, in Portugal, where I worked for intelligence for five months before flying back to U.K. The period covered is from the 5th. of September 1939 to early July 1941.

The publishers I have approached in this country are unanimous in being "impressed by the honesty, the detailed accuracy and the warmth and sensitivity" of the book, and that I "have more than adequately paid tribute to the courage, generosity and enduring friendship" of all the many French people that helped in my escape at appalling risk to them and their families.

However, they all say, in their different ways, that the book would not be commercially viable because it contains no sex, only one violent incident, and only a background love interest. They add that it is for this reason only they are unable to undertake publication of "an otherwise compelling and very human document".

I would be obliged if you would let me know if this is the sort of thing you would like to publish.

4x copies