Whirlwind (novel)


Whirlwind is a novel by James Clavell, first published in 1986. It forms part of The Asian Saga and is chronologically the last book in the series.
Set in Iran in early 1979, it follows the fortunes of a group of Struans helicopter pilots, Iranian officials and oil men and their families in the turmoil surrounding the fall of the Iranian monarchy and the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Like many of Clavell's novels, it is very long and is composed of many interweaving plot strands involving a large cast of characters, as well as a detailed portrayal of Iranian culture.
The novel is closely inspired by the true struggle of Bristow Helicopters to escape the revolutionary forces and get their employees and equipment out of the unstable, deteriorating situation in the region. Alan Bristow, chairman of Bristow Helicopter commissioned a journalist, Jackie Griffin, who was married to one of his employees to write a report on the events in Iran. Bristow then gave his friend, James Clavell the resulting script to form the basis of the novel. Much of the story mirrors these and other contemporary events. In February 1979, U.S. Ambassador Adolph "Spike" Dubs was murdered in Kabul after Afghan security forces burst in on his kidnappers, the actual event both mentioned and fictionalized into the plot of Whirlwind. Other companies operating in Iran faced similar dilemmas. For example, Ross Perot's Electronic Data Systems similarly became very involved in the rescue of two executives from prison in Tehran, events dramatised in Ken Follett's novel On Wings of Eagles.

Backstory

When tai-pan Ian Dunross learned in Noble House that the North Sea may soon be wide open for oil exploration, he sent Andrew Gavallan to Scotland to quietly buy up real estate in Aberdeen so they would be positioned to take advantage of this trend. The North Sea oil rigs, once built, are serviced by helicopter, which leads to Gavallan being involved in the helicopter and oil services industries. These become main business ventures of Struan's in Iran during the 1970s, as depicted in Whirlwind.

Plot summary

Gavallan, based in Scotland, runs S-G Helicopter company operating in Iran during the Shah's reign. When Khomeini comes to power, Gavallan must get his pilots and their families, and his valuable helicopters, and the spare parts for the helicopters out of the riot-torn country. Complicating matters is his power struggle with his company's secret owner, the Noble House of Hong Kong. The pilots' escape efforts form the basic story and the action sweeps across many lives: lovers, spies, fanatics, revolutionaries, friends and betrayers. British, Finnish, American, Canadian, Australian and Iranian are all caught up in a deadly religious and political upheaval, portraying the chilling and bewildering encounters when Westernized lifestyle clashes with harsh ancient traditions.

Equipment

Aircraft used by S-G Helicopters throughout the story include Bell 212, Bell 206, Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopters and British Aerospace BAe 125 business jet.

Locations

The settings for the story are the western and southwestern parts of Iran, as well as neighboring Persian Gulf states, Turkey to Lake Van, and the environs of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Actual locations within Iran include Tehran, Tabriz, Qazvin, Mount Sabalan, the Zagros Mountains, Lengeh, Bandar Delam, Siri, the Dez Dam and Kharg island.
Fictional locations include the city of Kowiss, Yazdek village and the :wikt:safe haven|safe haven emirate of Al-Shargaz, meaning protector.

Main characters

۞ indicates leader of respective base

Minor characters

Clavell got the idea for a book in 1975 when he visited Iran for the first time. He felt it had the potential to become "a country that seemed likely to become the No. 3 power in the world." Clavell:
I toured the country in a helicopter with an old friend of mine who was in the oil business. We went everywhere. I saw how helicopters and an international team of pilots were essential to the oil industry. Immediately I knew it lent itself to a novel. But I had other projects going so I put it aside. Then the revolution occurred. Now there were all these stories about the horrors of living through someone else's revolution. It all came together in my mind as the story of a multinational group of copter pilots caught up in an ugly revolution. Of course, that's all I knew. I never have a plan before I begin a novel.

Clavell was completing Noble House at the time and was preparing to start a sequel to Shogun called Nippon. But at his wife's urging he put that work on the back burner and took up the Iran book. He says he never told his publisher he had switched topics.
They all continued to think I was writing a book about Japan. I never like anyone to know what I'm doing. It's self-defense. When I was writing 'Shogun,' my publisher was asked at a sales meeting what Clavell was working on and when he said 'A book about 17th Century Japan,' they all roared 'Who the hell's interested in THAT?' If I told them I was writing about Iran, they'd say, 'Oh, another book on the hostage crisis.' But it's not. It's an adventure story that will hopefully tell people a lot they didn't know about the motivations of Moslem fundamentalists.

Clavell spent four years researching and writing the book. Clavell:
I learned to fly a helicopter. I read the Koran for the second time, I read anything the Shah had written, anything by his sister, by Khomaini. I read about the cults, about Sufism and 100 other books, about the Caucasus, the war years, the partition of Iran between Russia and Britain, I read about Ali, the first of the Imams.

Whirlwind was written in the alpine country around the Swiss resort of Gstaad, and in the south of France, where Clavell lived. He started writing in 1982 and finished it in late 1985.
Clavell auctioned off the rights to the novel after having written only 200 pages. He was paid $5 million, a record amount at the time.

''Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind''

A much shorter version of the story, focussing on a single pair of characters, was published in 1994 as Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind. The back cover of the first edition bore a message from the author humorously dedicating the book to anyone who had ever complained that his books were too heavy.