The Shepherd (novella)

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.


 * 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:
 * The reveal serves as the story's Wham! Line.