The Last Valley

The Last Valley is a 1959 historical novel by English author J. B. Pick. Set in southern Germany during the Thirty Years' War, the story centers on two individuals- a ruthless mercenary leader weary of war and a hapless intellectual fleeing destruction and starvation- as they each discover a fertile, idyllic valley, seemingly untouched by the devastation surrounding it. The two must work together in order to preserve this last peaceful valley while the outside world threatens finally to intervene.

An introductory note places the action of the story as occurring between September 1637, and March 1638.

The novel was adapted by James Clavell into a movie in 1971 starring Michael Caine and Omar Sharif. It was originally published in Great Britain under the title, The Fat Valley.