The Last Enemy

The thrilling and moving classic memoir of a spitfire pilot in World War Two.

This is the true story of Richard Hillary, immortalised in Sebastian Faulks' bestselling triple biography, The Fatal Englishman. In The Last Enemy, Richard Hillary tells his extraordinary story in his own words. Shot out of the sky in the Battle of Britain, Hillary spent months in hospital as part of Archibald McIndoe's 'Guinea Pig Club', undergoing pioneering plastic surgery to rebuild his face and hands.

The Last Enemy was first published in 1942, just seven months before Hilary's untimely death in a second crash.

'Rivetingly well told...It will speak to anyone who cares for the romance and tragedy of a lost hero' Sunday Times

'One of the classic texts of World War Two' London Review of Books

'Elegantly affecting memoir' The Times

© Richard Hillary 1997 (P) Penguin Audio 2026