The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

Slavomir Rawicz

Jan 2006 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by John Lee

About this audiobook

The film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story.

Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.

With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week’s supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through four thousand miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair’s breadth from death. Finally returning home, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans.

This is his story.

Ratings and reviews

I read this book while I was in Prison..All I know is the arguess, challenging,life changing book..This book took me into his world and life, I mean I really got lost in mine and his mind..You could have told me I was on the moon reading,And I would have believed you...my real point to this movie was.I would have rather been in my incarcerated state,than to be living through his hardship of wat his life was then...this book is in my top 3 favorites..I certainly am not a Voracious reader,but I am an Avid reader...And wen the story like this one wisks you away into another's He'll..I swear I took every step he did while on his impossible journey..I remember sayin I'd rather be here in the Joint than taking one more step in his below zero journey..I crinched at every turn of the page feeling his Demise creeping up on him w every step he took...Really I had told myself u got it made.I may b locked up,But I have tobacoo,Food,and a damn Maxim to read cover to cover.( of course ).. in my 6×10 box of life..I felt as if that book was meant for me to read in my current position..its not a self help book or story of Hope..Its a story of will and Perseverance and how excepting ur sitch.and using its energy to fight through...ok if u can't tell ..Im saying it's a Good Read..lol ha ha..... sincerely........... Danny Mack

About the author

Slavomir Rawicz (1915–2004) lived in England for many years after the war. He married an Englishwoman and lived in the countryside until his death in 2004.

John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays.