Thrilling new WW2 book by Harrogate man reveals 'Hitler’s secret wartime dash to England'
A Harrogate author has talked about how his daring new book was inspired by a WW2 story by the brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming on the theory that Hitler made a secret visit to Britain.
Talented Harrogate writer David Hutter worked on Blitz Visit: Hitler’s Secret Wartime Dash to England with a co-author across the Atlantic, American psychiatrist Gary Blount.
The journey to publication went beyond Hutter’s expectations, eventually involving not only Ian Fleming’s younger brother, the late Peter Fleming, but Peter’s own daughter.
The brilliantly-written new book shares a basic premise with The Flying Visit; Fleming's prescient 1940 novella about Adolf Hitler parachuting into England to conduct a reconnaissance mission before his planned invasion.
Written during the so-called Phoney War before the fall of France and before Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, Fleming’s fantastical caper relied heavily on his imagination rather than the facts.
But, remarkably, his story was mirrored by real events a year later, when Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, flew solo to Scotland, apparently to arrange peace talks.
After agreeing to collaborate on the project, Hutter flew out to Minneapolis to discuss the idea with his co-author.
"Gary loved The Flying Visit and hired me to rewrite it drawing on information that we're aware of today that Peter Fleming couldn't have known about,” said Hutter.
"He wanted our story to feature a psychiatric assessment of Hitler.
"After first meeting in London, I flew to America for a week, where we brainstormed various ideas at his home.
"I'm fluent in German, so our book ended up being a lot closer to real life than Fleming's.
"I did an awful lot of historical research and the storyline is totally different.
"If you squint a little, the story is just about plausible.”
The book is available via Amazon and has got at least one fan already who hailed it as “amusing and extraordinary”.
Hutter said: “I posted it to Peter Fleming's daughter, Kate, who is in her late 70s now.
"She liked it a lot, particularly the appendix, where I detailed the historical background that underpins our story.”