INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Waterstones Paperback of the Year
Economist Book of the Year
Published in 16 countries
He’s just escaped from one of the world’s most brutal regimes. Now, he decides to tunnel back in.
It’s summer, 1962, and Joachim Rudolph is digging a tunnel under the Berlin Wall. Waiting on the other side in East Berlin – dozens of men, women and children, all willing to risk everything to escape. From the award-winning creator of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 podcast, Tunnel 29 is the true story of the most remarkable escape tunnel dug under the Berlin Wall. Drawing on interviews with the survivors, and thousands of pages of Stasi files, Helena Merriman brilliantly reveals the stranger-than-fiction story of the ingenious group of student-diggers, the glamorous red-haired messenger, the American News network which films the escape, and the Stasi spy who betrays it. For what Joachim doesn’t know as he burrows closer to East Germany, is that the escape operation has been infiltrated. As the escapees prepare to crawl through the cold, wet darkness, above them, the Stasi are closing in.
Tunnel 29 is about what happens when people lose their freedom – and how some will do anything to win it back.
TV series to be produced by Sister productions and directed by Johan Renck (Chernobyl).
”A fantastic story, exceedingly well told…more gripping than a thriller. The story arc, through betrayal and disaster to triumph, is perfect.’
The Times
”An audacious and compelling tale, told with narrative tension and novelistic drive, creating a fascinating portrayal of life in Berlin in the early days of the Wall.’
The Observer
‘Helena Merriman’s book is a tour de force…the chapters on the day of the escape are possibly the most suspenseful I have ever read, in fiction as well as nonfiction….breathtaking.’
The Scotsman
‘Captivating… Ms Merriman’s well-crafted book does justice to the extraordinary bravery of her characters.’
The Economist
‘Merriman excels at recreating the physicality of their experiences: the smell of dense clay, the click-clack of a woman walking down the street above in high heels… Merriman has burrowed her way deep into interviews, news reports and Stasi files to fashion an impressive real life page-turner.’
The Guardian
‘Riveting’
Wall Street Journal
‘its skilful blend of a dynamic protagonist, intrigue, spooks, deception, and a love divided imbues Tunnel 29 with all the qualities of a taut Cold War spy thriller.’
Sunday Business Post
“Absolutely compelling, written in the style of a novelist…chilling… Tunnel 29 is a riveting story about what happens when people lose their freedom.”
New York Journal of Books
“You start to care about these people, to feel the taut urgency of their work and despair at the cruelty of a system that was as deranged as it was effective.’
The Washington Post
‘This is a remarkable tale, beautifully told and utterly compelling.’
BBC History Magazine
“A gripping, real-life page turner, packed with great characters stuck in impossible situations. This is nonfiction at its very best, and more dramatic and incredible than any fiction I have read for a very long time.”
John O’Farrell
“Merriman takes us inside not only the tunnel, but also the personal lives of those who dug it. We feel we’re experiencing history as it happens. It’s a gripping story of bravery, determination, and, ultimately, love.”
Lindsey Hilsum
“An almost unbelievable story of bravery, endeavour, and humanity. You won’t be able to put it down.”
Dermot O’Leary