A propulsive, action-packed story of a group of British mavericks who took on an impossible mission in a forgotten corner of World War One

'Wildly exciting' KATE ADIE
'Thoroughly gripping ... An action-packed tale' JUSTIN MAROZZI, THE TIMES
'Beautifully written' LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES
‘Stimulating... entertaining and instructive’ JULIAN EVANS, DAILY TELEGRAPH

The forgotten story of a group of British mavericks who took on an impossible mission - and survived against all odds to tell their extraordinary tales.

1918. The First World War is drawing to a close and regimes are collapsing across Europe. Amid the chaos, British officials plot a daring campaign to send an unlikely band of soldiers, diplomats and spies to the volatile shores of the Caspian Sea. Their mission: stop the advancing Turks, hold back the Bolsheviks and secure the vital supply of oil from Baku.

Drawing on personal diaries, memoirs and once-secret government archives, Mavericks is a page-turning story of boldness and intrigue, set in a forgotten corner of the Great War where rules were made to be broken.

"In this excellent book, Nick Higham gives his leading men space to breathe. All [the Mavericks] make great copy… The rattling good tale, of course, comes to a downbeat end [in defeat]. Lively and judicious" - Literary Review

"Stimulating … Higham’s story of the wild train ride back to Baku is worthy of a Buster Keaton movie … Higham’s memorable opening account of a company of North Staffordshire infantry holding off a Turkish advance at a mud volcano is an impressive illustration of British training and discipline … [He] has written an entertaining and instructive account of how empires can be fatally weakened by overreach and arrogance" - Daily Telegraph

"All the ingredients of a rattling good yarn are here ... A thoroughly gripping, chaotic and often cinematic series of adventures ... An action-packed tale of imperial British braggadocio, bravery and blundering on a grand scale" - The Times

"The stirring stories come thick and fast, as the former BBC correspondent Nick Higham describes the six-week long Battle of Baku – arguably the least remembered engagement of the First World War. Thrilling and sardonic by turns, the book weaves together the stories of half a dozen British imperial agents and adventurers as they furiously extemporise a future for the very edges of their overstretched empire" - Spectator

"Nick Higham makes a significant contribution [to First World War literature] by shedding light on an extraordinary and little-known episode around the Caspian Sea in the closing days of WWI. ... His journalistic abilities ensure that this is an engaging and well-paced read, enlivened by an extraordinary cast of characters whose unusual talents and skills made an impact within the geopolitical uncertainties of the end of the First World War" - Military History Matters