A Game of Birds and Wolves

[A] splendid new history of the war in the Atlantic … Simon Parkin’s book rips along at full sail and is full of personality and personalities. Above all, it brings a barely known aspect of the sea war out into the light. Which is a triumph in itself. - Sunday Express

Sheds compelling new light on the ferocious struggle being played out in the mid-Atlantic … [A Game of Birds and Wolves] has all the elements of a film - Sunday Times

In a riveting, intricately researched book, Simon Parkin tells the previously unknown story behind the Allied victory in the Atlantic during World War II. It’s an underdog’s tale - not only of British supply fleets trying to outrun German U-boats, but also of the women game designers who made that victory possible. - Ian Bogost, Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Contributing writer at The Atlantic, and author of PLAY ANYTHING

Engaging and skilful … [Parkin] writes with real flair and the human side of this story is brought out with fine vignettes and character sketches … If the place of women in Britain’s naval war has been played down, Parkin’s vivid story recovers it handsomely … Inside his narrative is a desire to show how ordinary people did extraordinary things in wartime … this is a good read on a corner of the war and the men and women who peopled it - one very much worthy of our attention. - Guardian

A triumph - Daily Mirror

History writing at its best - Booklist (starred review)

With novelistic flair, Parkin transforms material gathered from research, interviews, and unpublished accounts into a highly readable book that celebrates the ingenuity of a British naval ‘reject’ and the accomplishments of the formerly faceless women never officially rewarded for their contribution to the Allied defeat of Germany. A lively, sharp WWII history. - Kirkus Reviews

This is a thrilling story, compellingly told - History Revealed

Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, Guardian, and Observer. He is the author of:

• A Game of Birds and Wolves
• The Island of Extraordinary Captives, which won the Wingate Literary Prize
• The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the Royal Society Science Book Prize

His first book, Death by Video Game: Tales of obsession from the virtual frontline, was a New York Times Book Review ‘Recommend Read’. His podcast, My Perfect Console, interviews well-known guests about video games and has been picked as one of Time Out and Vulture’s best podcasts.

He lives in West Sussex.