Walking with Shadows - Tapa blanda

Walking with Shadows is a book of exile and odyssey: the incredible and moving story of Josef Tarnowski, a young Polish freedom-fighter who survived the frozen hell of the war-time Soviet Gulag and travelled half-way round the globe to join the Free Polish Forces in Scotland. He became a paratrooper and fought through the bloody slaughter of Arnhem, then a soldier-policeman among the ruins of the Third Reich, a 'displaced person' struggling to build a new life in post-war Britain and a successful electronics engineer whose pioneering work took him round the world again, and back to Poland, in very different circumstances. This is the story of an idyllic childhood, of family and friends lost and found, of war and peace, love and hope, tragedy and renewal. One man's story, it is also the story of the old Europe, which passed with the Soviet Empire, and the new Europe, heralded by the rise of Solidarnosc. The story of a family man, a man of wit, insight, irony and humour, "Walking with Shadows" is a celebration of the will to survive and to keep creating afresh, an inspiring tribute to the human spirit.

Josef Tarnowski retired from his post as an electronics engineer some years ago. In addition to keeping up an association with Poland, he has devoted himself to writing the story of his life. Raymond Raszkowski Ross is a playwright, journalist and editor; and a creative writing tutor with the Open University and the University of Edinburgh.