«Totally gripping … A fascinating, revelatory and surreal WWII story of almost incredible courage and unspeakable horror – how a Polish resistance fighter helped reveal the secret of the final solution from inside Auschwitz»

Simon Sebag Montefiore

«A remarkable book. Fairweather’s account is often harrowing; but it is an important account of the suffering and tragedy in Nazi death camps, told using many previously unpublished sources - and from a new perspective.»

Peter Frankopan

«Well-researched, well-written and searingly memorable, Jack Fairweather’s book reminds us of the capacity for nobility in the human soul in times of unimaginable peril»

Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of ‘Churchill: Walking with Destiny’

«Witold Pilecki is one of the great—perhaps the greatest—unsung heroes of the second world war ... Jack Fairweather's meticulous and insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life»

Economist

«Few books have enthralled, incensed and haunted me as “The Volunteer” has done. There were times I felt compelled to set it aside. There were others when hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it»

Wall Street Journal

«An extraordinary story»

The Times

«Superbly written and breathtakingly researched … a story of incalculable value delivered in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time»

Sebastian Junger, #1 New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist

«What distinguishes The Volunteer is Fairweather’s meticulous attention to accuracy … if it sometimes seems as though there is nothing left to uncover about the Holocaust, Fairweather’s gripping book proves otherwise»

The Spectator

«Combines the verve of a thriller with the detailed evidence of the sober, hideous truth»

Anne de Courcy, The Telegraph

«A searing account … a fitting memorial to one of Poland’s greatest war heroes and a shaming indictment of the western allies’ failure to act»

Sunday Times

«A forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust.»

Starred booklist review

«An outstanding achievement ... a harrowing tale, revealing the depths of human depravity, redeemed by the shining courage and nobility of one of humanity's heroes.»

Patrick Bishop, bestselling author FIGHTER BOYS