Love as Strong as Death (Author Signed)

Ravilious, the Pilot, and the Missing Aircraft

By Melody Foreman

DUE OUT MAY 2026

AUTHOR SIGNED

Hardback - 224pp - 234 x 156mm. Approx 30 B&W images.

World Rights - Fighting High Ltd. ISBN - 9781838068790

At dawn on 2 September 1942, a Hudson aircraft lifted into the pale Icelandic sky, and was never seen again. On board was Flight Lieutenant Alfred ‘Ginge’ Culver DFM, just twenty-five years old, together with three fellow airmen of Coastal Command’s No. 269 Squadron. With them flew Eric Ravilious, the brilliant war artist whose luminous watercolours had captured the uneasy stillness of Britain at war. Within hours, all were gone.

What happened in those final moments remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Second World War. Were they victims of a German U-boat or battleship? Did ice and mechanical failure bring them down? Or were they struck by a Luftwaffe reconnaissance plane over the Atlantic?

For decades, questions haunted the families left behind. Carol Lockwood was only eight weeks old when her father, ‘Ginge’ Culver, disappeared. Anne Ullman was six months old when she waved her father Ravilious goodbye for the last time. Both daughters grew up in the long shadow of loss, their lives intertwined by tragedy.

In Love as Strong as Death, Melody Foreman uncovers the story of two remarkable men – one a romantic, book-loving pilot, the other a visionary artist – whose fates were sealed on that September morning. At once an intimate family history and a moving act of remembrance, this book honours their courage, celebrates their art and service, and pays tribute to a generation of children who never knew their fathers.

Melody Foreman is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, biographer, historian, literary events host, Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society, and Member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists. She has written for national and international publications – including Britain at War, The Independent, The Mirror, The Express, and The Mail and has contributed research to ITV documentaries. Melody’s widely acclaimed books include Dad’s Army Goes to War, From the Battlefield to the Big Screen, A Spitfire Girl, and The Wreck Hunter: Battle of Britain & The Blitz.