The Picnic - An Escape to Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain

A gripping reconstruction of the escape to freedom of hundreds of East Germans in the summer of 1989 and its momentous, world-changing aftermath.

''A pivotal - and exhilarating - moment in 20th century history. . . gripping'' Observer
''Intensely moving'' Sunday Times
''Engrossing and dramatic'' William Boyd, New Statesman

FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2024

In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists did the unthinkable: they entered the forbidden militarised zone of the Iron Curtain - and held a picnic.

Word had spread of what was going to happen. On wisps of rumour, thousands of East German ''holiday-makers'' had made their way to the border between Hungary and Austria, awaiting an opportunity, fearing prison, surveilled by lurking Stasi agents. The stage was set for the greatest border breach in Cold War history. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Soviet Union - th