William Hoffer

Billy Hayes

Midnight Express tells the gut-wrenching true story of a young man's incarceration and escape from a Turkish prison. A classic story of survival and human endurance, told with humor, honesty, and heart, it became a worldwide best-seller and the Academy Award-winning blockbuster film of the same name. In 1970 Billy Hayes was an English major who left college in search of adventures to write about, like his hero Jack London. He had a rude awakening when he was arrested at the airport in Istanbul trying to board a plane while carrying four pounds of hashish, and given a life sentence. After five brutal years, relentless efforts by his family to gain his release, and endless escape plotting, Hayes finally took matters into his own hands. On a dark night, in a wailing storm he began a desperate and daring escape to freedom... This is the astounding journey, told in Billy Hayes's own words, of those five years of living hell and of the harrowing ordeal of his time on the run.

Midnight Express

Midnight Return picks up where Midnight Express left off. Billy Hayes leapt from prison isolation to international notoriety when the book about his five years in and escape from a Turkish prison became a worldwide bestseller, and an Academy Award-winning film. Midnight Return chronicles his struggles and triumphs in that transition, tracing Billy's journey from desperation to freedom, and even true love. It revisits his daring escape in more detail, and weaves in the harrowing story of his friend who remained behind and Billy's efforts to help free him. We take the ride with Billy as he sometimes stumbles along a path toward healing, self-knowledge, and a new life incorporating his hardest won lessons--to a place where he can say that being arrested and sentenced to life in prison was both the worst and the best thing that ever happened to him. In 1970 Billy Hayes was an English major who left college in search of adventures to write about, like his hero Jack London. He had a rude awakening when he was arrested at the airport in Istanbul trying to board a plane while carrying four pounds of hashish, and given a life sentence. After five brutal years, relentless efforts by his family to gain his release, and endless escape plotting, Billy took matters into his own hands and pulled off a daring escape to freedom. Soon after, he wrote Midnight Express.

Escaping Midnight Express

Midnight Return

For Billy Hayes, 1970 was a horrifying year. It was the year when he tried to smuggle 4lbs of hashish from Istanbul back to his home in America. It was the year when he was arrested at Istanbul airport, tried, and sentenced to 30 years in a Turkish jail. For five years he suffered the filth, brutality and degradation of imprisonment in an environment of hellish squalor, while his family fought in vain to secure his release. Finally in desperation, he made a daring escape bid and incredibly the bid succeeded. This is the astounding true story, told in Billy Hayes's own words, of those five years of living hell and of the harrowing ordeal of his time on the run. Vivid and realistic without being morbid, it is a classic story of survival and human endurance, told with humour, intelligence and total honesty.

Billy Hayes

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