Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantastic adventures while on the run - including a sojourn with South American Indians whose women Papillon found welcomely free of European restraints! "Papillon" is filled with tension, adventure and high excitement. It is also one of the most vivid stories of human endurance ever written. Henri Charriere died in 1973 at the age of 66.
- ISBN10 0854565493
- ISBN13 9780854565498
- Publish Date October 1976 (first published 31 December 1969)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 9 September 1996
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Ulverscroft
- Edition Large type / large print edition
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 250
- Language English