Papillon

A classic memoir of prison breaks and adventure – a bestselling phenomenon of the 1960s
Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charrière (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he went into solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil’s Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison – no one until Papillon took to the shark-infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantastic adventures while on the run – including a sojourn with South American Indians whose women Papillon found welcomely free of European restraints…

Papillon is filled with tension, adventure and high excitement. It is also one of the most vivid stories of human endurance ever written.

Henri Charrière died in 1973 at the age of 66.

In 1931, 25-year-old Henri Charriere was found guilty of a murder he had not committed and transported to a penal colony in French Guiana. His numerous daring escapes and subsequent adventures are recounted in ‘Papillon’ (1969) and ‘Banco: The Further Adventures of Papillon’ (1973). He died in 1973 at the age of 66.

An immediate sensation upon its publication in 1969, Papillon is a vivid memoir of brutal penal colonies, daring prison breaks and heroic adventure on shark-infested seas. Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Henri Charriere, nicknamed Papillon, was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break for freedom, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. He was recaptured and put into solitary confinement but his spirit remained untamed: over thirteen years he made nine incredible escapes, including from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island. This edition of Papillon, one of the greatest adventure stories ever told, includes an exclusive new essay by Howard Marks.

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