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What did Peter Green walk into on that infamous trip to Munich where, according to some, he took too much LSD and was never the same again? That’s just what author Ada Wilson wanted to find out.
A coalition government. A widely mistrusted ruling elite. Riots in the streets and heavy-handed police tactics. Welcome to West Berlin, 1967. An island surrounded by a hostile state. A diced and quartered city of Chinese Whispers. With a wall running right through it. Where agent provocateur Peter Urbach is caught in the middle, but ultimately uncertain who’s issuing the orders. And pretty soon just as unsure where his real allegiances lie.
But what does Swinging London care about Berlin in 1967? London’s having a party. London’s conquering the world with its fashion and art, its beautiful people and especially its music. And London groups like Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac are on a mission to bring the urban blues of Black America to new and ever-growing audiences. Another Peter then, on another journey, in its way just as perilous and uncertain.
One day soon their paths will cross. But first there will be chicanery in Chicago, LSD in LA, Voodoo in New Orleans. And bombs in Berlin – where soon everyone will know the names Baader and Meinhof. Drawing heavily on real characters and recorded facts, Red Army Faction Blues brings together two previously unconnected sides to the story of the death of 1960s optimism.
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‘Peter Green provides the thematic thread drawing the novel’s diverse elements into focus, mapping out the constant points of this fascinating reimagining. As though the Green God has the answers – the code to what happened… to why the urban guerrilla youthquake all went wrong. Brilliant stuff!’ – Rock n Reel
‘This is a magnificent, messy book. Or rather it is a magnificent book about the messy degeneration of high ideals and good music. Skilfully and almost breathlessly, the author reveals the confused interior life of Peter Urbach, the undercover agent, as well as that of ex-Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green.’
– Paul Simon, Morning Star
‘British author Wilson- brings the tumult of 1967 West Berlin vividly to life in this intriguing period thriller. Resonances with the Occupy Wall Street movement make this novel’s themes timely.’ – Publishers Weekly
‘As a work of historical fiction, Wilson’s prose is artfully light of touch where exposition is concerned. Concise summaries of ideas—from Situationism to the writings of Marcuse—fit naturally into the dialogue of his young revolutionary characters, informing the novitiate reader whilst remaining perfectly unobtrusive to the informed… as a novel that is willing to both engage with radical politics and explore postmodern literary form, Red Army Faction Blues is a highly commendable work, audaciously conceived and well executed.’ – The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Red Army Faction Blues 