Fair Stood the Wind For France by H. E. Bates is the story of a young English pilot, John Franklin, who, along with his 4 man crew, are forced to crash land in Occupied France in 1942. Franklin has a bad arm injury but they are taken in at a remote farm. The daughter, Francoise and Franklin have an immediate attraction to one another and rather than give himself up and get treatment, he allows the local doctor to remove his arm. Working with the Underground, papers are obtained for the 4 other Englishmen, but Franklin, due to his injury remains at the farm to heal.

Eventually he is well enough to attempt to escape and Francoise decides to be his guide and, in fact, to accompany him back to England so that they can be married. They manage to work their way into Vichy France and to Marseilles. When they learn that the Allies have landed in Algeria, they realize that the Germans will be taking over Vichy France and they need to get out quickly.

Although there were moments of very high tension, the story actually moved quite slowly with a lot of emphasis on the building relationship between the two young people. I have read H. E. Bates previously but only some of his humorous books like The Darling Buds of May, so I was quite surprised at the serious content and literary technique of the writing. The book was published in 1944 so is quite unusual in that it was unknown as to when or how the war would end. Fair Stood the Wind For France is a simple, poignant story that is delivered in a thoughtful and understated manner. ( )

1944 story of a group of British airmen who come down in occupied France. With one of them seriously injured, they plough on - every human a potential traitor - until they meet a kindly French family, willing to put themselves at huge isk by helkping...
Written in a very tense, immediate style...gripping up to the very end. ( )

I had read this novel perhaps forty years ago, but I had no real recollection of the story line. On a second reading I have enjoyed the fact that the book is beautifully written, and the developing love of Franklin and Francoise is delicately handled. One has to put oneself into how life was in occupied France during WW2, and the huge risks the family took to shelter and feed these five British airmen. If interested in this era in our history it is novel of its time which portrays all the hardships, scarcity of supplies, lack of medical facilities, limited travel opportunities, all the things we take for granted today. I was a little disappointed in the ending and would have enjoyed a 'happy ever after scene' back in Britain. ( )

okay, not great ( )

The prose is good. The story is fiction, and subject to the pressure of actually being written in wartime. The love story is a trifle mawkish, but we're talking 1944, here. Chiefly entertaining as a WWII artefact. ( )