Goodbye Mickey Mouse

Goodbye Mickey Mouse
Len Deighton

In Goodbye Mickey Mouse Len Deighton has written his best novel yet: a brilliant, multi-dimensional picture of what it is to be at war… and what it was to be in love in the England of 1944.Goodbye Mickey Mouse is Deighton’s fourteenth novel and a vivid evocation of wartime England, the story of a group of American fighter pilots flying escort missions over Germany in the winter of 1943-4.At the centre of the novel are two young men: the deeply reserved Captain Jamie Farebrother, estranged son of a deskbound colonel, and the cocky Lieutenant Mickey Morse, well on his way to becoming America’s Number One Flying Ace. Alike only in their courage, they forge a bond of friendship in battle with far-reaching consequences for themselves, and for the future of those they love.

Goodbye Mickey Mouse

Len Deighton

Copyright (#ulink_bddca4cb-1a65-5d34-bb71-92cca31da9dc)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

FIRST EDITION

First published in Great Britain by Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd 1982

Copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 1982

Introduction copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 2009

The author and publisher would like to thank The Big 3 Music Ltd and United Artists Music Co. Inc. for kind permission to quote from ‘For All We Know’ by Sam M. Lewis and J. Fred Coots (© 1934 Leo Feist Inc.), and Famous Chappell and Chappell Music Canada Ltd for kind permission to quote from ‘That Old Black Magic’, from the film Star Spangled Rhythm, music by Harold Arlen and words by Johnny Mercer (© 1942 Famous Music Corp.)

Len Deighton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EBook Edition © NOVEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007347735

Version: 2017-08-10

And all men kill the thing they love,

By all let this be heard,

Some do it with a bitter look,

some with a flattering word,

The coward does it with a kiss,

The brave man with a sword.

Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Mickey Mouse, US Military Slang. Anything that is unnecessary or unimportant. (Named for the Walt Disney animated cartoon character, in allusion to its childish appeal, its simplicity, triviality, etc.)

The Barnhart Dictionary of New English

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u0f127027-6563-5c93-8ed8-8c24d9817ec5)

Title Page (#u702c3c3f-3844-5e1c-ae42-fe3f19e95f56)

Copyright (#uab81f090-b76a-5dc9-9337-147bda7dfae8)

Epigraph (#u8fe6d3ad-21df-539f-a6a9-fba93852ea46)

Introduction (#uc34a3a3c-d312-5d9e-8088-ca9293787f49)

Prologue (#u1c6eedb3-cb11-5590-bcf6-6be48bdb85f1)

1 Colonel Alexander J. Bohnen (#udf17b521-1b62-5176-8719-6486e57aae3a)

2 Captain James A. Farebrother (#u7d69fc4d-0cbc-5f24-9829-c4fce93139e9)

3 Staff Sergeant Harold E. Boyer (#uca6e8869-97bf-5b9f-acf7-3afc5f4c670e)

4 Lieutenant Z. M. Morse (#ua3aed8e7-9047-586f-8791-b91d36cb8bd1)

5 Captain Charles B. Stigg (#ucfc52250-eb58-53f9-b7af-4c248f33d88e)

6 Captain James A. Farebrother (#u50b22131-d847-5093-bb0a-e0358053b54f)

7 Victoria Cooper (#uc40aef9c-2f87-5019-8659-c9492dc6882d)

8 Colonel Alexander J. Bohnen (#ub142dccf-6457-59af-aca5-11e2037e8af5)

9 Captain James A. Farebrother (#u895da37c-6db8-5ced-9ae9-b6f37f3f6f64)

10 Colonel Daniel A. Badger (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Brigadier General Alexander J. Bohnen (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Captain James A. Farebrother (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Dr Bernard Cooper (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Captain Vincent H. Madigan (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Captain James A. Farebrother (#litres_trial_promo)