The Stasi arrested me, the Israelis regaled me, the IRA prompted a quick move from Ireland to England, and a certain attractive Czech secret police agent – well her actions were a bit more intimate. And that’s just for starters.
Frederick Forsyth has seen it all and lived to tell the tale…
At eighteen, Forsyth was the youngest pilot to qualify with the RAF. At twenty-five, he was stationed in East Berlin as a journalist during the Cold War. Before he turned thirty, he was in Africa controversially covering the bloodiest civil war in living memory.
Three years later, broke and out of work, he wrote his game-changing first novel, The Day of the Jackal. He never looked back.
Forsyth has seen some of the most exhilarating moments of the last century from the inside, travelling the world, once or twice on her majesty's secret service. He's been shot at, he's been arrested, he's even been seduced by an undercover agent. But all the while he felt he was an outsider. This is his story.
A sometime pilot, secret service operative, international journalist and correspondent, Frederick Forsyth has channelled an astonishingly packed and eventful life into some of the most successful contemporary thrillers. He is best-known for his blockbuster debut The Day of the Jackal as well as The Odessa File and The Dogs of War.
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9780552171700
Number of pages: 384
Weight: 262 g
Dimensions: 198 x 127 x 23 mm
Forsyth insists that The Outsider is not an autobiography. So I will just say that this is one of the most exciting and enjoyable accounts of an author’s life, in vaguely chronological order and written by the author himself, that I have ever read. - The Sunday Times
The comparison with Bond is apt . . . it may well be the best book he has ever written. - Daily Mail
If there is one memoir to read this autumn, it's Frederick Forsyth's extraordinary life story, The Outsider, which reads like a James Bond novel. The author of The Day Of The Jackal tells his own story and it's clear where the inspiration for so many of his best-selling thrillers came from when you read about his own life, beginning as the RAF's youngest pilot at the age of 19 and carrying on through being captured by the Stasi and threatened by the IRA. - Irish Independent
Enjoyed Freddie Forsyth last night. Boy has he lived a full life! And a life so beyond anything most of us can imagine, full of coups, civil wars, spies, and most importantly, typewriters. Great stories. - Simon Mayo, Radio 2 Drivetime blog
In this engaging level-headed memoir . . . he reminds me of Ian Fleming, a fellow Europhile (in the cultural rather than political sense_ who also honed his writing skills at Reuters. Fleming is more elegant, more playful; Forsyth has more balls. - Literary Review
There’s plenty of sex and subterfuge, with close shaves, hairy escapades and hints of involvement with the intelligence services . . . ultimately, The Outsider is as good a read as any of the thrillers. If you’re looking for thrills and spills, you’ll find them. - Country Life
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