“A modern classic of courage and excitement.” —
The New Yorker
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture Starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek
Henri Charrière, nicknamed "Papillon," for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 of a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal:
escape
. After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts over many years, he was eventually sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped . . . until Papillon. His flight to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, will, and endurance ever undertaken.
Charrière's astonishing autobiography,
Papillon
, was first published in France to instant acclaim in 1968, more than twenty years after his final escape. Since then, it has become a treasured classic—the gripping, shocking, ultimately uplifting odyssey of an innocent man who would not be defeated.
“A first-class adventure story.” —
New York Review of Books