spent four years researching and writing the book. Clavell: I learned to fly a helicopter. I read the Koran for the second time (the first was as a POW), I read anything the Shah had written, anything by his sister, by Khomaini. I read about the cults, about Sufism and 100 other books, about the Caucasus, the war years, the partition of Iran between Russia and Britain, I read about Ali, the first of the Imams. Whirlwind was written in the alpine country around the Swiss resort of Gstaad, and in the south of France, where Clavell lived. He started writing in 1982 and finished it in late 1985. Clavell auctioned off the rights to the novel after having written only 200 pages. He was paid $5 million, a record amount at the time. Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind A much shorter version of the story, focussing on a single pair of characters (Erikki Yokkonen and his wife Azadeh), was published in 1994 as Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind. It is 598 pages long in paperback edition. The back cover of the first edition bore a message from the author humorously dedicating the book to anyone who had ever complained that his books were too heavy. References 1986 British novels Asian Saga novels Novels set in the Iranian Revolution Fiction set in 1979 Aviation novels Hodder & Stoughton books