We’re pleased to announce that Rider author, Francois Bizot, has topped the Adult Best Sellers list at The Hay Festival yesterday, with his book Facing The Torturer.

Francois Bizot, who in 1971 was kept prisoner for three months in the Cambodian jungle, spoke to Phillippe Sands about his captor, Comrade Duch, who had him freed but then later became one of Pol Pot’s most infamous henchmen and personally oversaw the detention, systematic torture and execution of more than 16,000 detainees.

Bizot gave evidence at Duch’s show trial (ending in 2010) and spent time with him in prison, trying to unearth whatever humanity Duch had left; If he was going to talk to anyone, it was Bizot, whom he still referred to as his ‘friend’.

Find out more about Bizot’s incredible and moving story, read an extract from his book Facing The Torturer.