Munichs

Peace (the Red Riding Quartet) scores with a deeply moving account—­based on a true story—of a British sports team overcoming a deadly accident. On Feb. 6, 1958, a London-bound flight transporting the Manchester United football club crashes on takeoff at Munich Airport, killing eight members of the talented young squad. The injured are rushed to a local hospital. Assistant manager Jimmy Murphy flies to Munich to visit the survivors and returns home with two teammates who miraculously survived the crash without serious injuries. The days that follow are filled with official inquiries, emergency surgeries, bedside vigils, and funerals, but the heart of the story is Jimmy’s attempt to rebuild the team in time for the FA Cup final. Peace renders Jimmy’s campaign with rich dialogue, as in veteran player Ernie Taylor’s response to Jimmy’s attempt to coax him out of retirement: “I’m very sorry about everything that has happened to you like, you know, with the crash like, and I know you’re desperate, and I still appreciate you asking us like, but I just don’t think it would work, it wouldn’t be right like.” Bringing his large cast of characters—the players, their families, the air crew, the investigators, and the hospital staff—to vivid life, Peace captures all the conflicting emotions of people trying to rally in the wake of a senseless tragedy. Readers should pounce. (Nov.)