John R. McKay

John R. McKay is a British historical novelist whose work is centred chiefly on the two world wars, particularly the experiences of ordinary servicemen and the clandestine operations of the Second World War. Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he served for seven years in the Royal Air Force before pursuing a career in the Fire and Rescue Service. His longstanding interest in twentieth-century military history developed into both fiction and non-fiction; he completed and edited the wartime memoir of Arctic Convoy veteran Charlie Erswell, published as Surviving the Arctic Convoys. McKay has also contributed to projects commemorating wartime service, including work connected with an Arctic Convoys exhibition at Liverpool’s Western Approaches Museum.

His best-known historical fiction includes Hell and High Water, which won the inaugural Aspects of History Historical Fiction Award, and the Manner of Men series, which follows British airborne troops during the Second World War. The series includes A Time for Heroes, Target Arnhem and In for the Kill, taking its characters through airborne operations and fighting in northwest Europe. McKay has also written novels including The Sun Will Always Shine, The Absolution of Otto Finkel and Codename Greyman, as well as V for Victory, which began as a short story about wartime resistance before being developed into a novel. His fiction tends to combine military action with questions of comradeship, courage, divided loyalties and the personal consequences of war, while making extensive use of the real operations and conditions experienced by wartime soldiers.