On 22 May 1940, Antoine de Saint-Exupery set off on a reconnaissance operation from Orly over Nazi-occupied France to Arras. It was a pointless mission, since the French surrender was only weeks away, but still so dangerous that he was not expected to survive it. That journey and his return home are recorded in Flight to Arras, a profound and passionate meditation on mortality and war.

A magic text, at times almost Biblical, of why men fight and how they feel in the presence of death' Time