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Christmas Eve, 1957: An RAF pilot just wants to get home to spend the holiday with his family, but his jet develops electrical trouble over a fog-bound North Sea. His only hope to survive the night, let alone get home, is that somebody notices him on radar and sends up a guide aircraft to bring him in - a "shepherd."
Frederick Forsyth's novella The Shepherd was originally a Christmas gift to his wife in 1974, which was published by Hutchinson in 1975. Then it was read on-air on the CBC Radio program As It Happens in 1979, and the story became a Christmas tradition.
The Other Wiki has a spoiler-laden synopsis of the story's plot.
WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.
Tropes used in The Shepherd (novella) include:
This page needs more trope entries. You can help this wiki by adding more entries or expanding current ones.
- Just Plane Wrong: A minor case. The protagonist flies a de Havilland Mosquito out of RAF Celle on Christmas Eve 1957. The RAF stopped stationing Mosquitos at Celle in 1950, and returned Celle to German control on 29 November 1957.
- The cover of the first printing of the story shows a de Havilland Venom - while that isn't the aircraft in the novel, it was the aircraft model that the RAF had based at Celle in 1956-1957.
- No Name Given: The protagonist.
- Twist Ending: It wouldn't be a Frederick Forsyth story without one. In this case, it concerns the shepherd's identity.
- Write What You Know: Frederick Forsyth was an RAF Flying Officer before becoming a writer.
Spoiler tropes:
- Christmas Ghost Story: The shepherd of the story died during World War II, trying to shepherd another aircraft home on Christmas Eve. The reveal serves as the story's Wham! Line.