Book cover of The Hunting of the Shark: The Story Behind the Tale That Crash Landed on an Unsuspecting Oxford Suburban Street

Book description

It's 1986 and American jets take off near Oxford to bomb Tripoli and take out Gaddafi . . . meanwhile another missile has crashed through the shattered tiles of a quiet Oxford suburban home. This is a true story. Dive into this book which celebrates the 25th anniversary of one…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Hunting of the Shark as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The artist John Buckley made this shark to go into the roof of American Bill Heine’s terraced house. I cast both of them away on my mythical island of Oxtopia. They explained that their aim was to feel shock and awe falling from the sky. When American warplanes were leaving nearby Heyford to drop bombs on Libya, they asked what it would feel like to have your domestic world penetrated out of the blue. Not everyone liked the shark and Bill had a six-year battle against bureaucracy. This book tells that story. It is now a TOWN icon but for…

From Sylvia's list on Oxford and where town meets gown.

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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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