08 Jul 2013 23:34:30
With brilliantly stiff upper-lip chapter titles such as "Grand Tiffins and the Squits: The Commandoes Recuperate at the Dapha, but Mackrell Falls Sick", Andrew Martin's Flight By Elephant is defiantly Boy's Own stuff. Tracking the exploits of Gyles Mackrell, veteran of the Royal Flying Corps turned tea plantation overseer in Assam, this "untold story of the second world war's most daring jungle rescue" sees the 53-year-old battle intolerable leeches, monsoon conditions and starvation in his attempt to save British subjects fleeing Burma in 1942 through the "unsurvivable" Chaukan Pass.If the vivid description of Mackrell – "he always wore long shorts, and above his long socks, his large knees had the touching appearance of being on the wrong way round" – is reminiscent of a vintage cigarette card, then it's welcome. There are a lot of characters to deal with here – any book that takes four pages to list its principle characters is to be approached with caution – and nearly half of the narrative has progressed before Mackrell begins his rescue mission.
Such languid storytelling initially risks imposing a certain lack of peril on a tale about what was a life-or-death situation for the 300 or so people who attempted this journey. But Martin – who is a novelist, after all – manages ultimately to turn it into a great adventure.
