KATRINKA by Geoffrey Rawlings
It is September 1952, and eighteen-year-old Peter Rundle has no idea of the
adventure awaiting him when he reports for National Service with the Duke of
Cornwall
’s Light Infantry. Already a capable boxer, he knows he will learn how to use
lethal weaponry, and he is not unduly surprised by his posting to Germany. But
he doesn
’t expect to have to fight for his life in a vicious midnight brawl, nor does he
anticipate meeting the girl of his dreams.
Katrinka is a young Polish beauty, officially designated as a post-war refugee
and living in a Displaced Persons
’ Camp. When the West German authorities learn that she is involved with a member
of the occupying forces they decide to return her to her homeland
– a country on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
Heartbroken at the prospect of being separated for ever, the young lovers decide
on an audacious plan to smuggle Katrinka back to England
– a desperate gamble which they manage to pull off. However, the authorities are
long-armed and Katrinka is arrested in Cornwall and deported to Poland.
As weeks of torment and grief grow into months, Peter’s sense of hopelessness is overtaken by an iron-willed determination to find Katrinka and bring her
back
– a virtually impossible task in the hostile reality of the Cold War.
Shortly following his demob, however, fate smiles on Peter in the form of an
opportunity to join the mercantile marine service. This, together with a chance
meeting with a member of MI5, creates another opportunity for a dangerous
attempt to find Katrinka; including a brutal encounter with the Polish Secret
Police.
The stakes are high; the dangers real; the outcome anything but certain.
Geoffrey Rawlings
Cornish born author Geoffrey Rawlings started work with the Shell Oil Company
before being called for National Service which took him to Germany with the
Duke of Cornwall
’s Light Infantry for two years.
He spent a number of years working in the china clay-pits, and then for many
years ran his own catering business with the help of his wife and their two
children. Along the way he also acquired a farm which he still owns.
Now concentrating on his writing, Geoffrey Rawlings draws inspiration from the
surroundings of his native Cornwall and its inhabitants.
