Classic Novels #1: Bomber by Len Deighton

First edition: Jonathan Cape, 1970

Current first edition value (in VG condition): £60-£70

After establishing himself as an author during the 1960s with his series of spy novels featuring a laconic, nameless protagonist (who became “Harry Palmer” for the subsequent films starring Michael Caine) Deighton turned to another of his major interests for inspiration – the Second World War.

Bomber - his seventh novel – was his most ambitious work to date and recounts a botched Allied bombing raid on Germany in 1943. Although the personalities involved and the details of the raid are fictitious (the action is said to take place on the non-existent date of 31^st June) it was meticulously researched to ensure that it provided an authentic and gripping portrayal of what it was like to  participate in – and experience the effects of – an air attack. This depth of research is particularly evident in Deighton’s mastery of technical details. Weather patterns, the workings of the German radar defence system and even how many fragments a flak shell might disintegrate into upon exploding are all described with a cool detachment that provides a counterpoint to the intense human drama of the story.

Deighton provides a variety of different viewpoints to recount the action. In addition to the bomber crews themselves the reader sees events unfold from the perspective of German Luftwaffe radar station operatives and night-fighter pilots as well as civilians in the small town of Altgarten that becomes the unintended target of the raid after marker bombs are dropped short of the industrial centre of Krefeld. This narrative technique helps to provide a balanced picture of both the effectiveness and morality of the Allied night bombing strategy – a feature which was unusual in a novel published just 25 years after the end of the conflict. Similarly, Deighton employs light and shade in his portrayal of individual characters with heroes and villain appearing on both sides, from the Luftwaffe pilot who learns of the horrific experiments being carried out within the concentration camps to the RAF ground crew who profit by selling their base’s provisions on the black market.

Bomber is one of Deighton’s most critically-acclaimed works. Kingsley Amis rated it as one of the ten best books of the 20^th century whilst Anthony Burgess included it within his list of the 99 best English novels published since 1939. These factors have helped to make it one of the more collectable of the author’s later works and you can expect to pay upwards of £60 for a copy of the first edition in very good condition in its Ray Hawkey-designed dust-jacket featuring detail from the Turner painting “Fisherman at Sea off the Needles”.

Novel facts:

1.     Bomber provided the inspiration for heavy metal band Motörhead’s album of the same name, which was released in 1979.

2.     In his introduction to the 2009 reissue, Deighton describes how Bomber was the first novel to be written on a word-processor after he was permitted to become the only private owner of an IBM MT 72 computer which was “the size and shape of a small upright piano”!