Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • Magazines

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Historic and folklore novels
  3. Historic novels

Read and listen for free for 30 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
5.0(2)

Diary of a Dead Man on Leave

From bestselling author David Downing, master of historical espionage, comes a heart-wrenching depiction of Germany in the days leading up to World War II and the difficult choices of one man of conviction. In April 1938, a man calling himself Josef Hofmann arrives at a boarding house in Hamm, Germany, and lets a room from the widow who owns it. Fifty years later, Walter Gersdorff, the widow's son, who was eleven years old in the spring of 1938, discovers the carefully hidden diary the boarder had kept during his stay, even though he should never have written any of its contents down. What Walter finds is a scathing chronicle of one the most tumultuous years in German history, narrated by a secret agent on a deadly mission. Josef Hofmann was not the returned Argentinian immigrant he'd said he was-he was a communist spy under Moscow's command to try to reconnect with any remnants of Germany's suppressed communist party. Hofmann's bosses believe the common workers are the only way to stop the German war machine from within. Posing as a railroad man, Hofmann sets out on his game of "Russian roulette," approaching Hamm's ex-party members one at a time and delicately feeling out their allegiances. He always knew his mission would most likely end in his death, and he was satisfied to make that sacrifice for the revolution if it could help stop Hitler and his abominable ideology. But as he grows close to the Gersdorffs, accidentally stepping into the role of the father Walter never had, Hofmann begins to wish for another kind of hope in his life.


Author:

  • David Downing

Narrators:

  • David de Vries
  • Paul Woodson

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 9 h 48 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Historic and folklore novels
  • Historic novels
  • War novels
  • WWII fiction
  • Fiction
  • Biographical novels
  • Suspense
  • Spy novels

More by David Downing

Skip the list
  1. Union Station

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  2. Bahnhof ZOO

    David Downing

    audiobook
  3. Stettin Station

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  4. Silesian Station

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  5. Zoo Station

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  6. Wedding Station

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  7. The Dark Clouds Shining

    David Downing

    audiobook
  8. Lenin's Roller Coaster

    David Downing

    audiobook
  9. The Red Eagles

    David Downing

    audiobookbook
  10. Jack of Spies

    David Downing

    book
  11. Masaryk Station

    David Downing

    book

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Nextory One
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5