"You can at least say this for the blackout, he thought, it has given us back the stars."

For my first read of 2011 this went down very well. I was only 8 years old when this book came out and despite an attempt to try and read it a few years  thereafter, never got into it. Now that I'm older, there was no doubt in my mind as to just how thrilling a story it was.

"They've got ten U-boats on their backs and you want them to tell you the weather?" "Yes, please. Fast as they can." 

My best scene was, I think, the accumulation of the U-Boat signals on that fateful March morning. The tension, the atmosphere itself was palpable. The rest of the story fell into place, of course, so that's a highlight more than a masterpiece. but what a wartime rollick!