Fritz-Julius Lemp tracked the approaching ship in his submarine’s periscope. It had become a silhouette barely distinguishable against the darkening twilight sky, but Lemp was close enough to see the foaming white wave thrown up by its bow. He smiled when the spray arched higher, signaling the ship had begun changing course again. “You’re right on schedule,” he said to the image in his eyepiece. Lemp’s pulse quickened with the knowledge that his war was about to begin . . . On September 1, 1939, the passenger liner Athenia set sail from Glasgow for Montreal by way of Belfast and Liverpool. She carried 1,100 passengers, nearly three-quarters of whom were women and children. On September 3, Athenia was torpedoed by a German submarine. In Without Warning , author Thomas C. Sanger tells the harrowing story of the sinking of the Athenia from the perspective of eight people: six passengers, Athenia’s chief officer, and the commander of the German U-boat. Based on accounts written by passengers, personal interviews with survivors and descendants of survivors, books, newspaper stories, and original documents, Without Warning honors the memory of Athenia’s passengers, both living and dead. "The sinking of the passenger liner Athenia is a gripping story. In Without Warning , Tom Sanger brings this tragedy to life and makes it personal. As a reader, you share the fear and the anxiety with the survivors. This is an amazing story about how the Second World War began." Francis Carroll, Professor Emeritus, Manitoba University, and the author of Athenia Torpedoed " Without Warning brings to life a little-known episode of World War II and celebrates the human capacity to endure under the most harrowing circumstances." Rosemary Burstall, Athenia survivor "An exciting read told from the actual survivor's perspectives." Geoff Etherington, Athenia survivor Thomas C. Sanger is a San Diego-based author who has written for a variety of publications and audiences during a thirty-year career in journalism and public relations. He worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and KABC radio in Los Angeles, researched and wrote television documentary scripts, and directed corporate communications for a major Southern California energy company. Sanger is the author of numerous articles and nonfiction books. Without Warning is his first novel.