Gauntlet: Five friends, 20,000 Enemy Troops, and the Secret That Could Have Changed the Cold War by Barbara Masin, Naval Institute Press, 2006.
The author is the granddaughter of Czech WWI and WWII hero General Josef Masin and the daughter of his son, Pepa Masin. Pepa, his brother Radek, and three friends escaped Czechoslovakia across East Germany into West Berlin in 1953.
Sometimes truth is even more unusual than fiction. This story offers insight about the environment in Eastern Europe in the early years of Communist rule. Even more, the author brings the real-life adventure(!) to a wide audience.
I would imagine that this was at times difficult for the author and her father as they re-lived that time. Last year I finished writing/publishing my mother’s autobiography - a five year project. It was an emotional roller coaster at times, knowing some of the events, reliving some of them, and seeing my mother experience them once again.
Interesting, fast-paced, and enlightening, this is a well written book, and well worth reading.