THE HEART-WRENCHING true story of how legendary TV reporter Michael Nicholson smuggled an orphan out of war-ravaged Sarajevo is being released as an ebook to mark 20 years since her rescue.

Natasha’s Story, which went on to become the award-winning film Welcome to Sarajevo, tells how Nicholson resolved to bring nine-year-old Natasha home to England while reporting the horrors of the Bosnian War.

Forging her name into his passport, he faced the ordeal of getting them both out of the country in one piece – and then protecting Natasha from the press as she settled into her new home.

The gripping first-hand account is both an indictment of the horror and futility of the war and a tribute to one girl’s courage as she began a new life in England, 1,000 miles from her native land.

Bought up to date with new material and never-before-seen photographs, Natasha’s Story is being released as an ebook for the first time, alongside two other books by Michael Nicholson.

His gripping autobiography, A Measure of Danger, is a vivid account of the 18 war zones he has braved in his career with Britain’s prestigious ITN, where he was one the world’s most travelled foreign correspondents.

The new ebook edition has been updated to include the Gulf Wars – his reporting of which led to Nicholson being awarded the OBE – and his return to the Falklands in 2012. It can be downloaded now from more than 100 ebook retailers around the world, including Amazon and Apple’s iBookstore.

Also going digital is his novel Pilgrims Rest, the story of Mary, a Welsh widow who resolves to forge a new life with her children in 1870s South Africa after her husband is killed in a battle with English miners.

However, after overcoming a dangerous journey beset by deadly animals and hostile warriors, all is not as they had hoped in the village of Pilgrims Rest. Conflict has come to South Africa and Mary, Huw, Ianto, William and baby Tom are right in the middle of it.

The Michael Nicholson trio have been published by Apostrophe Books, a young company dedicated to bringing bestsellers from the recent past into the digital world, as well as uncovering the writing talent of tomorrow.

Nicholson said: “I’d always thought that my printed books would remain, resting quietly and unseen on my bookshelves. Then, hey presto, the genius of e-editions, the press of a button and the promise of a whole new generation of readers. Forgive the ego trip but I shall now buy myself the magic box and read my own stories all over again.”

Apostrophe Books founder and bestselling author Martyn Forrester added: “Michael Nicholson is one of the world’s most decorated foreign correspondents, an absolute legend. I’ve been gripped by his books over the years so it was an immense honour that he chose Apostrophe as his ebook publisher.

“The first three ebooks we’re bringing out were all bestsellers, and Michael has added thousands of words of unique and fascinating bonus material to Natasha’s Story and A Measure Of Danger, and dozens of photos that have never before been seen.”