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Title: Fiction - not fact
Review: Timothy Dalton's bio of Jones, "Wayward Sailor," proves that this wonderfully written and evocative book about life on a British warship in World War II is fiction. Dalton cites official records showing that Tristan Jones, first-person narrator of this supposed memoir, did not join the RN until 1946, when the war was over. All of Jones's books are novels, some spun virtually from whole cloth.I hate fakes. One star.If, however, you want to read an outstanding novel of the war at sea, "Heart of Oak" won't let you down. Its take on the period is very convincing (obviously!) and Jones clearly makes good use of the stories he must have heard from his real navy shipmates in the immediate postwar period.I love well-written novels. Five stars.But I hate fakes. One star.
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