The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz
The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz
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The Long Walk
The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

Author: Slavomir Rawicz

Narrator: John Lee

Unabridged: 9 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2006

Synopsis

The film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story.Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week’s supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through four thousand miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair’s breadth from death. Finally returning home, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans.This is his story.

About Slavomir Rawicz

Slavomir Rawicz (1915–2004) lived in England for many years after the war. He married an Englishwoman and lived in the countryside until his death in 2004.

About John Lee

John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ed on July 01, 2008

There is much controversy as to whether this account is fact or fiction. I googled the author's name and the book title and after reading dozens of articles and opinions, I'm still not sure, though I lean towards thinking that the narrative is actually a composite of a number of experiences includin......more

Goodreads review by Clif on October 07, 2014

When this novel was first published in 1956 it created a sensation. It claimed to be a memoir of a man, who with seven others, had escaped from a Siberian prison work camp in 1942 and managed to walk all the way to British India. The story was eagerly consumed by the cold war era public who were ena......more

Goodreads review by AMEERA on February 07, 2017

Wow......more

Goodreads review by Jay on September 06, 2024

Controversy surrounds this memoir/adventure story in that the author may have fabricated much of what is depicted in this book. Regardless, it's quite a tale and is very interesting. Seven escapees from a Siberian labor camp make their way to freedom across harsh conditions to British India during th......more

Goodreads review by Tj on February 24, 2008

I found this book truly inspirational and gripping. I read it in 2 nights. There is some banter about whether or not it is true. I'm still not decided on what I think about this debate. What I do know, from having lived in Russia for a number of years and having toured an obscure KGB "prison" in Lit......more

Quotes

“John Lee narrates this astonishing adventure as if every word were a step on the long trek…This timeless tale is given new life in Lee’s fresh narration. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“A poet with steel in his soul.” New York Times

“It is a book filled with the spirit of human dignity and the courage of men seeking freedom.” Los Angeles Times

“One of the most amazing, heroic stories of this or any other time.” Chicago Tribune

“Positively Homeric.” Times (London)

“You’ll never complain about blisters again!” BackPacker

“One of the epic treks of the human race…His account is so filled with despair and suffering it is almost unreadable. But it must be read—and re-read.” Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm

“The Long Walk is a book that I absolutely could not put down and one that I will never forget.” Stephen Ambrose, New York Times bestselling author

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
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