The Long March Home

A World War II Novel of the Pacific

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"Remarkable."--Mark Sullivan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky 

"Packed with tension."--Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours 

"Such real characters."--Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook

"Riveting."--Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gray Man series 

"Utterly compelling."--Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things 

"Simply magnificent."--Don Bentley, New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Intent 

"Dazzling."--Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of House on Fire 

"A tremendous story."--Andrew Kaplan, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Madagascar 

"Beautifully and faultlessly told."--Steve Martini, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Flag 


Inspired by true stories, The Long March Home is a gripping coming-of-age tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the power of unrelenting hope.

Jimmy Propfield joined the army for two reasons: to get out of Mobile, Alabama, with his best friends Hank and Billy and to forget his high school sweetheart, Claire.

Life in the Philippines seems like paradise--until the morning of December 8, 1941, when news comes from Manila: Imperial Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. Within hours, the teenage friends are plunged into war as enemy warplanes attack Luzon, beginning a battle for control of the Pacific theater that will culminate with a last stand on the Bataan Peninsula and end with the largest surrender of American troops in history.

What follows will become known as one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare: the Bataan Death March. With no hope of rescue, the three friends vow to make it back home together. But the ordeal is only the beginning of their nearly four-year fight to survive.

Endorsements

"Tosca Lee and Marcus Brotherton bring to life the Pacific theater as seen through the eyes of three young enlisted men, once boyhood friends and now fellow soldiers. Packed with tension, peril, and the unimaginable horrors of a world at war, The Long March Home also reaches inside, bringing forth the lives lived and taken amid the turmoil . . . and a lost love that may yet be found in the ashes."

Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends

"Historically sound and deeply empathic, The Long March Home tells the remarkable story of three teenage boys and the girl they all adored before signing up to fight in the South Pacific during World War II. Captured, forced through the infamous Bataan Death March, and cast into the squalor of Japanese prison camps, the boys quickly become men who try to survive on memories of love. I've never read anything quite like it."

Mark Sullivan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Green Valley and Beneath a Scarlet Sky

"The Long March Home is a riveting tale of friendship and war, survival and heroism. Well-researched and authentic, it's a novel not to be missed by readers who find themselves spellbound by tales involving the Second World War."

Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Burner: A Gray Man Novel

"This story has such a personal feel to it that it reads more like a memoir than fiction. It has such real characters that I was rooting for them through their harrowing ordeal and weeping for those who were lost."

Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook

"An utterly compelling exploration of the tenacity and resilience of the human spirit. Here is an outstanding story by two master wordsmiths that honors not only those who died and those who survived the Bataan Death March but all who spent the years of World War II as prisoners. It is heart-wrenching one moment and utterly exhilarating the next. You won't be able to put it down."

Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things

"Sometimes novelists can trump historians in bringing the past to life. That is certainly the case in Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee's The Long March Home, which re-creates the hell of the Bataan Death March in stark clarity. It's fiction--but it's truth."

Stephen Hunter, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Point of Impact and Basil's War

"The Long March Home is a dazzling, gripping, compelling story of friendship and war, of courage and grief, of horror and survival. Vividly painted and compassionately told, it's a story that deserves to be remembered. A must-read."

Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of House on Fire

"A powerful experience, a gripping story about the strength and resilience of the human heart, and a chapter of World War II history that shouldn't be forgotten."

Edward Burns, filmmaker (The Brothers McMullen) and actor (Saving Private Ryan)

"Not since Once an Eagle has a novel so thoroughly captured what it means to go to war, fight, and return home with honor. The Long March Home is a story of friendship, courage, and relentless love. You'll cheer through your tears for the three small-town boys who must weather one of World War II's darkest moments with nothing but their unbreakable brotherhood to sustain them. Simply magnificent."

Don Bentley, New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Intent

"From Mobile to Manila, Brotherton and Lee deliver one power-punched scene after another, crafting an emotionally charged, sensory-rich story of three young soldiers and the people who love them. With a perfect blend of writing styles and a page-turning plotline, The Long March Home will leave readers longing for more from this dynamic duo."

Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Perennials

"A beautiful story of youth and friendship. Inspired by true stories, this is a fascinating and visual account."

Loucas George, producer of hit TV series Nashville

"A story full of hope, courage, friendship, faith, and loss told in a way that only true master storytellers like Brotherton and Lee can, The Long March Home takes you on a wonderful and horrible journey through the eyes of characters so real they leap from the page. You will read this book more than once, as we did, and it will find a very special place on your bookshelf."

Andrews and Wilson, internationally bestselling authors of the Shepherds, Tier One, and Sons of Valor series

"The Long March Home is a thrilling story, excellently told. It's a tale of friendship and hope during one of history's darkest moments. Brotherton and Lee are at the top of their game."

Tyrell Johnson, internationally bestselling author of The Wolves of Winter and The Lost Kings

"Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee have crafted a well-written story of the hell soldiers of the American Army faced on Bataan and later as prisoners of the Japanese in World War II. Very few survivors remain, and Brotherton and Lee do a good job of weaving together details of published accounts to keep this almost forgotten story alive."

Donald Caldwell, historian and author of Thunder on Bataan

"Brotherton and Lee have crafted a profoundly human story set against the epic backdrop of the Pacific theater of World War II. The Long March Home weaves a fragile thread of hope, resilience, forgiveness, and the powerful love of friends even in the midst of the hellish conditions of war, imprisonment, and torture. This story of the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan' is not to be missed."

Caleb McCary, twenty-one-year Army veteran and chaplain

"Band of Brothers meets Empire of the Sun. Amid vivid scene-setting, a captivating young narrator brings us the innocence, steel, and moral choices that come from a world being turned upside down, with one thought on a girl back home and another on surviving until the end of the day. Jimmy Propfield even brings to mind Voltaire's Candide. This is war-writing at the highest level."

Humphrey Hawksley, BBC correspondent and author of Man on Ice

"The Long March Home is an immersive, deeply human portrait of the horrors of war and loss. The Bataan Death March is a little-known slice of World War II history that Lee and Brotherton depict with a blend of vivid detail and great sensitivity. With compelling characters and vibrant prose, The Long March Home is a must-read for connoisseurs of World War fiction."

Aimie K. Runyan, bestselling author of The School for German Brides

"Not since James Jones has anyone written so well and tellingly of the war in the Pacific and the largely untold story of the 'Battling Bastards of Bataan.' Authentic, raw, and heartbreaking, this compelling tale of love and war and friendship in the face of impossible odds is a powerful and unputdownable read. A tremendous story."

Andrew Kaplan, New York Times bestselling author of Blue Madagascar

"The Long March Home is a remarkable novel. It's the story of a different age--the greatest generation caught up in its hour of greatest peril and pain--beautifully and faultlessly told by authors who know their craft. Brotherton and Lee craft characters so real they grab you by the throat and draw you into the story, so much so that their survival becomes your own. This memorable story will remain with you long after the final page."

Steve Martini, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Flag

The Authors

  1. Marcus Brotherton
    © Ben Bender Photography

    Marcus Brotherton

    Marcus Brotherton is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author or coauthor of more than 25 books that have been called "fascinating," "brilliantly arranged,"...

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  2. Tosca Lee

    Tosca Lee

    Tosca Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of 11 novels, including The Line Between, The Progeny, The Legend of Sheba, and Iscariot. Lee's work has been praised as "deeply human,"...

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