ALMOST A GREAT ESCAPE

In this memoir Trafford tells the powerful story of rediscovering the mother he loved and of understanding the importance of holding on to the "One Good Thing" life gives you.

When Tyler Trafford's mother, Alice, died she left him a long-hidden album, its pages filled with photographs and Luftwaffe-censored letters from Jens Müller the Norwegian WWII Spitfire pilot famous for his escape from Stalag Luft III and to whom she was secretly engaged. Seventy-six prisoners made it through the tunnel on the night of March 24, 1944 and had their story told in the Hollywood blockbuster The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen. Of these, seventy-three were recaptured. Fifty were executed. Only three reached freedom. Jens was one of the three: he had promised My Dearest Alice he would return for her and he intended to keep that promise. It took two years and a trip to Norway to make sense of this final gift. Trafford's quest to find Jens Müller and understand his mother's choices in life became ALMOST A GREAT ESCAPE, a story he wrote for her based on the unexpected events, relationships and consequences he discovered. His quest completed, he read the story beside her grave ... returning the gift, transformed, to her.
Tyler Trafford is the author of The Sun On The Mountains novel series. Tyler has written as a news and features journalist for many print newspapers and he has written commissioned, non-fiction works on topics varying from The Calgary Zoo to golf courses, drillers and movie studios.