When the engine of the aircraft fails, Franklin is forced to make an abrupt landing, in the dead of the night, in marshy terrain, in what they hope is Occupied France. It is the third summer of the War, tempers are rising, impatience is growing, a sense of uncertainty prevails. The man in charge of the aircraft, one John Franklin, feels a deep sense of responsibility for his crew of four sergeants, a responsibility that has grown over the year that they have flown together. The glacial valleys were alternately shadowy and white as starch in the blank glare of the full moon and then in the distances, in all directions, as far as it was possible to see, the high snow peaks were fluid and glistening as crests of misty water.

Sometimes the Alps lying below in the moonlight had the appearance of crisp folds of crumpled cloth.

There are some wonderful descriptions of the snow glistening on the mountains beneath the aircraft. The story starts with the British plane hovering over the French Alps during the night. To add to that you have a moving love story and an epic struggle where the protagonists strive to find freedom. The beautiful nature writing, descriptions of food, sensuality in describing human interactions and emotions is rendered just as beautifully in ‘Fair Stood the Wind France’. With a keen eye for observing small details, one gets the idea, that here is a writer who knows how to live life to the lees and appreciates the small things. Moreover his writing has a sensual quality. Apart from the obvious humour in the stories of the inimitable Larkin family, there is a beauty in Bates’ writing that brings out the best in all natural things. HE Bates’ ‘Darling Buds’ series is one that I read in my early teens and it has always been very dear to me. In particular it is the beautiful story of the love and trust that grows between the injured head flight pilot and the daughter of the French family. ‘Fair Stood the Wind for France’ by H E Bates is a war time work of fiction that deals with the story of a group of British airmen, who are compelled to make a forced landing in occupied France and have to take refuge in the home of a kind French family, who risk all they hold dear to help the men. To take a look at other books published in the same year, reviewed by other bloggers, please take a look at the round up posts that should be up on the previously mentioned blogs. I am reviewing this book as part of the #1944club, initiated by Simon David Thomas of ‘ Stuck in a Book’and Karen of ‘ Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling’.

Fair stood the wind for france