Papillon - Henri Charriere

A modern classic of courage and excitement. -- The New Yorker Soon to be a Major Motion Picture Starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek Henri Charri re, nicknamed Papillon, for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 of a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal: escape . After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts over many years, he was eventually sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped . . . until Papillon. His flight to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, will, and endurance ever undertaken. Charri re's astonishing autobiography, Papillon , was first published in France to instant acclaim in 1968, more than twenty years after his final escape. Since then, it has become a treasured classic--the gripping, shocking, ultimately uplifting odyssey of an innocent man who would not be defeated. A first-class adventure story. -- New York Review of Books