The Survivor

About the Book

With courage and determination, a youth leaves his family in the poverty of war torn Poland after the First World War, stows away on a tramp ship and escapes to America. His resilience and razor-sharp brain places him above the rank and file. After the outbreak of the Second World War he sails to England to enlist and fight against the Nazis, is captured in North Africa and taken to Italy as a prisoner of war. He escapes, lives and works amongst Italian patriots until he is recognised, and immediately escapes for a second time. He eventually returns to England and after the war becomes a billionaire through successful commercial enterprises. With the collapse of the stock markets he finds himself in deep financial trouble. To avoid inevitable bankruptcy and criminal proceedings, he devises a means of escape by using a look-alike. He mysteriously disappears from his luxurious, ocean-going yacht m the early hours of the morning while cruising on the Atlantic Ocean in an area renowned for strong currents, and the look-alike’s body is left floating in that area.

About the Author

Roland Pytch was born in 1923 in Chiswick, West London, close to the River Thames. Fascinated by the water and all things mechanical, at an early age he expressed a desire to go to sea as an engineer. He began his marine training in 1937 and continued for much of the Second World War until he was conscripted into the army in 1944. He then served in the senior Guards regiment in Germany, Egypt and Palestine. After demobilisation in 1947 he returned to his marine studies, and entered the Merchant Navy in 1949. He left the sea in 1960, and obtained employment as an engineer at the new ATV Television Studios. He retired from the studios in 1983, but then worked as a freelance draughtsman on equipment for the North Sea oil rigs, and also in the glass industry. He finally retired in 1997 and concentrated on his hobbies and writing. This is his first novel.