One of Rio’s most famous and infamous foreign residents was the Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs. Biggs landed in Rio de Janeiro on 11 March 1970 and departed on 6 May 2001. He was “discovered” and arrested in Rio on 1 February 1974, and subsequently kidnapped on 16 March 1981.

Biggs tells the full story of his time in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in his autobiography Odd Man Out: The Last Straw. He wrote his autobiography while living in Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro and then updated it when he was released from prison in the UK on 6 August 2009.

During his time in Rio de Janeiro, Biggs also wrote his one and only novel, Keep on Running, a book which was originally published in 1995, and has now been published on Kindle for the first time.

Keep on Running is a novel that draws on the true events surrounding the Great Train Robbery. It gives a dramatic account of what may have happened to the three men at the track who were never caught or charged. It covers their lives before, during and in the years immediately after the robbery in August 1963. It also features the shadowy character known to people on both sides of the law as the Ulsterman, and provides a dramatic solution to the puzzle as to whether or not there was a shipment of jewels on board the train and, if there was, why the owner never came forward.

The book is Biggs’ only novel, although he was very active in writing both poetry and lyrics, most famously for the Sex Pistols and Die Toten Hosen. He had also been involved in writing the screenplay for the film Prisoner of Rio.

The Kindle version of Keep on Running: A Story from the Great Train Robbery  is available globally direct from your local Amazon or Kindle store.

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