Introduction

This story has balls….. the leather and steel kind! Since the day he was born, Malcolm McClain led a charmed life. By his mid-twenties he was a household name throughout Europe, recognized as one of the finest professional soccer players in the world. At the start of World War II, Malky joins the Royal Air Force to great fanfare–a national treasure doing his part. Then he’s shot down over Yugoslavia and captured by the Nazis. Adolf Hitler now plans a scurrilous propaganda campaign to demoralize the British by claiming McClain has betrayed them by becoming a Nazi. Chez Orlowski is an unwanted orphan in Poland after first his mother, then his step-father die. As a teenager, he’s protecting his sister from their abusive stepmother when he finds himself arrested and thrown into a Nazi hard labor camp. After dodging death every day, he finally escapes with only one goal in mind: to cause mayhem as a Polish freedom fighter. Chez is clever, relentless and utterly fearless in his crusade to wreak havoc and terrorize the Nazis occupying his country. He becomes a hero to the Polish people, who know him as The Spider. When the Yugoslavian Partizani get wind of Hitler’s plans for Malcolm McClain, they vow to wreck them. Their best option is to persuade The Spider to use his special talents to extract McClain from Stalag 306 and whisk him back to safety. But the story does not end there…..

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Excerpt

CHAPTER NINETEEN
1943 – Revenge is Sweet

Left alone with Malcolm in the Brodnik living room, Chez calmly summarized their predicament.
“The Germans will be here shortly, my friend. You must hide in the passage and wait for Savo and his men. They’ll get you to Semic and freedom by tomorrow.”
“Sounds like you’re not coming with me,” Malcolm said, frowning.
“If we both leave now, the Nazis will be suspicious of an empty house and might search and find the passage. There might not be enough time for Savo to get back here and rescue us. I’ll keep them occupied here for a while before I...” ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Malcolm McClain and Chez Orlowski come from very different worlds. Without the war, their paths would never have crossed. What is the basis of the enduring friendship they develop?

2. When Malcolm and his fellow pilots take to the air in 1939, the reader sees that the construction of their airplanes is very flimsy. What was the status of England’s military when World War II was declared, and how did they mobilize to defend their country?

3. The extensive resistance networks across Europe facilitate Chez’s trip to join up with the Yugoslav Partizani to rescue Malcolm from Stalag 306. These networks were maintained by thousands of resistance fighters at great risk to their lives and loved ones. Did the hardships Chez undergoes seem overdone? And what would it take for you to become a resistance fighter should your country be attacked?

Weblinks

»	Official web site for balls of leather and steel
»	Author Guy Butler's architectural web site

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