Rennell, Tony

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RENNELL, Tony

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Viking, 345 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CAREER:

Freelance journalist and writer. Former associate editor of the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday.

WRITINGS:

When Daddy Came Home: How Family Life Changed, Pimlico (London, England), 1996.

Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria, Viking (New York, NY), 2000.

(With John Nichol) The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe, 1944-1945, Viking (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tony Rennell writes historical nonfiction, touching on subjects such as World War II and the death of Queen Victoria. In the Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria, Rennell explores the last days in the life of Queen Victoria, the funeral following, and the reaction of the British people to her death. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly noted, "While the last days of a monarch's life may seem a slight subject for a book, this is ultimately a lively and detailed slice of social history, which captures the mood and mind-set of turn-of-the-century England." Rennell sets out to capture how the Queen's death marked the end of an era. A reviewer for Kirkus Reviews called the book, "An admirable success at generating the sense of impending change that surrounded the death of Queen Victoria."

Rennell paired up with Gulf War POW John Nichol to write The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoner's of War in Europe, 1944-1945. The book is composed from historical accounts and interviews with surviving veterans and POWs of World War II. In Contemporary Review, James Munson stated that "it was a story that needed to be told … this book not only tells these men's stories but gives readers an insight into the fear and horror that POWs faced." By 1944 there were hundreds of thousands of American and British prisoners of war held by the Germans. During the final months these men were forced to march deeper into Germany—the POWs refer to it as "the death march." A reviewer for Kirkus Reviews called The Last Escape, "A fine tale of great and not-so-great escapes, along with the ordinary business of surviving confinement in Hitler's stalags in the final months of WWII."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Contemporary Review, May, 2003, James Munson, review of The Last Escape: The Untold Story of Allied Prisoners of War in Europe, 1944-1945, p. 310.

History Today, November, 2001, Anne Pointer, review of Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2001, review of The Last Days of Glory, p. 1009; May 1, 2003, review of The Last Escape, p. 663.

Library Journal, August, 2001, Isabel Coates, review of Last Days of Glory, p. 132; May 15, 2003, Edwin B. Burgess, review of The Last Escape, p. 103.

Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2001, review of Last Days of Glory, p. 173; June 16, 2003, review of The Last Escape, pp. 124-125.