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Fair Stood the Wind for France
When John Franklin brings his plane down into Occupied France at the height of the Second World war, there are two things in his mind - the safety of his crew and his own badly injured arm. It is a stroke of unbelievable luck when the family of a French farmer risk their lives to offer the airmen protection. During the hot summer weeks that follow, the English officer and the daughter of the house are drawn inexorably to each other...
253 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1944
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1766 people want to read
About the author
H.E. Bates
278 books194 followersHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE is widely recognised as one of the finest short story writers of his generation, with more than 20 story collections published in his lifetime. It should not be overlooked, however, that he also wrote some outstanding novels, starting with The Two Sisters through to A Moment in Time, with such works as Love For Lydia, Fair Stood the Wind for France and The Scarlet Sword earning high praise from the critics. His study of the Modern Short Story is considered one of the best ever written on the subject.
He was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire and was educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he was briefly a newspaper reporter and a warehouse clerk, but his heart was always in writing and his dream to be able to make a living by his pen.
Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands of England, particularly his native Northamptonshire. Bates was partial to taking long midnight walks around the Northamptonshire countryside - and this often provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and its people and this is exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled Through the Woods and Down the River.
In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.
His collection of stories written while serving in the RAF during World War II, best known by the title The Stories of Flying Officer X, but previously published as Something in the Air (a compilation of his two wartime collections under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X' and titled The Greatest People in the World and How Sleep the Brave), deserve particular attention. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Squadron Leader.
Bates was influenced by Chekhov in particular, and his knowledge of the history of the short story is obvious from the famous study he produced on the subject. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.
Bates was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and wrote numerous books on flowers. The Granary remained their home for the whole of their married life. After the death of H. E Bates, Madge moved to a bungalow, which had originally been a cow byre, next to the Granary. She died in 2004 at age 95. They raised two sons and two daughters.
primarily from Wikipedia, with additions by Keith Farnsworth
He was born in Rushden, Northamptonshire and was educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he was briefly a newspaper reporter and a warehouse clerk, but his heart was always in writing and his dream to be able to make a living by his pen.
Many of his stories depict life in the rural Midlands of England, particularly his native Northamptonshire. Bates was partial to taking long midnight walks around the Northamptonshire countryside - and this often provided the inspiration for his stories. Bates was a great lover of the countryside and its people and this is exemplified in two volumes of essays entitled Through the Woods and Down the River.
In 1931, he married Madge Cox, his sweetheart from the next road in his native Rushden. They moved to the village of Little Chart in Kent and bought an old granary and this together with an acre of garden they converted into a home. It was in this phase of his life that he found the inspiration for the Larkins series of novels -The Darling Buds of May, A Breath of French Air, When the Green Woods Laugh, etc. - and the Uncle Silas tales. Not surprisingly, these highly successful novels inspired television series that were immensely popular.
His collection of stories written while serving in the RAF during World War II, best known by the title The Stories of Flying Officer X, but previously published as Something in the Air (a compilation of his two wartime collections under the pseudonym 'Flying Officer X' and titled The Greatest People in the World and How Sleep the Brave), deserve particular attention. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of Squadron Leader.
Bates was influenced by Chekhov in particular, and his knowledge of the history of the short story is obvious from the famous study he produced on the subject. He also wrote his autobiography in three volumes (each delightfully illustrated) which were subsequently published in a one-volume Autobiography.
Bates was a keen and knowledgeable gardener and wrote numerous books on flowers. The Granary remained their home for the whole of their married life. After the death of H. E Bates, Madge moved to a bungalow, which had originally been a cow byre, next to the Granary. She died in 2004 at age 95. They raised two sons and two daughters.
primarily from Wikipedia, with additions by Keith Farnsworth
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
August 24, 2022
In May 2021 I read a collection of 3 novellas by H.E. Bates, all of which were on the theme of love. I resolved at the time to read more of his work, and this is one of his best-known novels. Despite its wartime setting, it’s also essentially a love story. The book was apparently published in January 1944 and is set in 1942, from which I conclude it was probably written during the course of 1943. The title is taken from the opening line of a 17th century poem, The Ballad of Agincourt. I won’t describe the plot as it is adequately set out in the blurb at the top of the page.
According to the Internet, Bates was commissioned into the wartime RAF but was given the job of writing morale boosting stories. You can discern that this is a wartime novel. In particular both the British airmen and the members of the French resistance act with a sort of quiet heroism throughout. In general though, I would say that the novel has more depth and subtlety than might be expected from a simple propaganda piece. Most of the time the novel depicts the aircrew as sticking closely together and working as a team, but there are one or two hints of unspoken tensions, which left me wondering a bit. Wartime censorship would likely have prevented Bates from portraying obvious dissent amongst the crew.
I really enjoyed this one! Bates would not have had any direct knowledge of occupied France, but the atmosphere he creates seems a believable one. On a day-to-day basis the French farming family are largely left alone by the Occupying forces, but the country still labours under an oppressive atmosphere. One of the things Bates does best is in keeping the tension really high throughout the novel, and this complements the developing love story. The reader’s emotional investment in the young couple is heightened by the continual danger they face.
Many of Bates’ other novels were set in the English countryside, and he is well-regarded for his descriptions of the latter. In this book, his descriptive skills are transferred to the countryside of France.
One aspect slightly surprised me. When their aircraft crash lands, the British airmen don’t know whether they are in Occupied France or in the Zone libre. They repeatedly say however, that they hope they have landed in the Occupied Zone. I would have thought that would have been the other way around to be honest. Maybe the aid networks for British airmen were less developed in the Vichy Zone? There’s perhaps some wartime knowledge behind that, which I’m not aware of. In general Vichy France gets a negative write-up in the novel, though that’s not surprising given the context.
The believability of the plot gets stretched a little thin towards the end, but the denouement remains exciting. A high four stars from me.
According to the Internet, Bates was commissioned into the wartime RAF but was given the job of writing morale boosting stories. You can discern that this is a wartime novel. In particular both the British airmen and the members of the French resistance act with a sort of quiet heroism throughout. In general though, I would say that the novel has more depth and subtlety than might be expected from a simple propaganda piece. Most of the time the novel depicts the aircrew as sticking closely together and working as a team, but there are one or two hints of unspoken tensions, which left me wondering a bit. Wartime censorship would likely have prevented Bates from portraying obvious dissent amongst the crew.
I really enjoyed this one! Bates would not have had any direct knowledge of occupied France, but the atmosphere he creates seems a believable one. On a day-to-day basis the French farming family are largely left alone by the Occupying forces, but the country still labours under an oppressive atmosphere. One of the things Bates does best is in keeping the tension really high throughout the novel, and this complements the developing love story. The reader’s emotional investment in the young couple is heightened by the continual danger they face.
Many of Bates’ other novels were set in the English countryside, and he is well-regarded for his descriptions of the latter. In this book, his descriptive skills are transferred to the countryside of France.
One aspect slightly surprised me. When their aircraft crash lands, the British airmen don’t know whether they are in Occupied France or in the Zone libre. They repeatedly say however, that they hope they have landed in the Occupied Zone. I would have thought that would have been the other way around to be honest. Maybe the aid networks for British airmen were less developed in the Vichy Zone? There’s perhaps some wartime knowledge behind that, which I’m not aware of. In general Vichy France gets a negative write-up in the novel, though that’s not surprising given the context.
The believability of the plot gets stretched a little thin towards the end, but the denouement remains exciting. A high four stars from me.
August 8, 2019
This novel is problematic. To anyone poised to attack me with the specious argument that the novel reflects the moral orthodoxy of the time and can therefore be exempt from any criticism in this department: beware, your efforts to enlighten me will be in vain. Fair Stood the Wind for France is astoundingly insensitive towards the French Occupation and the entire dynamic of the novel is typical of wartime propaganda: Allied heroism and moral rectitude is a shining beacon against the ignominy of the French surrender. But perhaps the meat of this review is that I will always be angered by authors that champion a brave woman's sexual appeal to a greater extent than her courage.
For a novel marketed as a story of redemption, resistance and romance, this is remarkably devoid of emotion. This renders Fair Stood the Wind for France all the more compromised when we consider that the plot is very much driven by a fanciful relationship between a downed British airman and a young French woman. Despite the language barrier (somewhat compromised by Franklin’s rusty yet serviceable French), the two fall irrevocably in love. Except that they don’t. They really, really don’t. Franklin’s entire attitude towards his love-interest reads like a predatory old man. Hear me out. This love-interest in question is a sweet, unworldly girl named Françoise. Yet, Françoise is very rarely ever referred to as Françoise. Bates takes great pains to dehumanise her with the definite article: to friends, family and lovers, Françoise is known as ‘the girl’. ‘The girl’ is perhaps appropriate for the first third of the novel, but once the couple are on more… intimate terms, surely Franklin could manage to humanise her with her own given name? Their relationship escalates absurdly fast and seems to bud from nowhere but Françoise’s sex appeal. Franklin cannot describe any event without paying an interminable tribute to her ‘clear, dark eyes’ or ‘smooth breasts beneath her blouse’. No, they don’t connect on any psychological level either - unsurprisingly. In turn, her unfounded and specious devotion to Franklin belies any of the agency she exhibits elsewhere in the novel: it is her only apparent motivation. Not the state of her country, or the fates of her mother, brother or her father. Give me one solid character trait of Françoise, go on, I dare you. Franklin preys upon her naivete and apparent lack of life experience. She functions as no more than a plot device: sure, she helps save Franklin on more than one occasion, but she is never established as a real character; she doesn’t gather a personality, just in the way that the other French characters remain stereotypically gauzy, aloof and whimsical. And let’s not forget the frequent incidents of what read like sexual assault. Franklin is constantly touching her up, without Françoise giving him any reason to believe that she consents to this. No, I’m not nitpicking, read this:
Franklin, after partially removing Françoise's blouse and being told not to, whines, "You said you'd do anything for me." Then, following said assault/tryst, he asks (oh so tenderly, as Bates likes to remind us) : "Did you mind what happened to-night?"
Did she mind? Did she MIND?
'No' means no.
On a fundamental level, the style is incredibly dated. Bates relies extensively on exposition, and his prose is extremely repetitive in its word choice and phrasing. Awkward adverbs include ‘acidly’ (not in the modern sense, but referring to bile, nausea and other bodily fluids - nice) and the euphemism ‘sickness’ to describe vomit. Unfortunately, much of the tension that raises its head in the final two chapters is compromised by this sort of circumlocution. But there are redeeming factors. Of course there must be. The banter of the squadron is wonderfully endearing and the ambience of the French landscape is exquisite. There is also one profound act of sacrifice at the very end of the novel which adds a shade of redemption and perhaps the only compelling moment of the entire story. And the opening ending certainly saved us from the saccharine crap that would inevitably have followed.
Wow, I can’t believe how angry this made me, especially on a reread. This should have, in theory, done much for women in roles of resistance. Instead, it does a profound disservice to Françoise and almost belittles the sacrifices that she made. Why can’t brave, resourceful and reasoning women exist without the unnecessary burden of sex appeal?! At least I should be grateful that the war is certainly not as sentimentalised as so many modern interpretations are these days. Travesties like The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Nightingale, I’m looking at you. I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I had hoped: oh, Françoise, honey. Snap out of it, girl! It’s a shame, Mr Bates - you were doing really well, too.
For a novel marketed as a story of redemption, resistance and romance, this is remarkably devoid of emotion. This renders Fair Stood the Wind for France all the more compromised when we consider that the plot is very much driven by a fanciful relationship between a downed British airman and a young French woman. Despite the language barrier (somewhat compromised by Franklin’s rusty yet serviceable French), the two fall irrevocably in love. Except that they don’t. They really, really don’t. Franklin’s entire attitude towards his love-interest reads like a predatory old man. Hear me out. This love-interest in question is a sweet, unworldly girl named Françoise. Yet, Françoise is very rarely ever referred to as Françoise. Bates takes great pains to dehumanise her with the definite article: to friends, family and lovers, Françoise is known as ‘the girl’. ‘The girl’ is perhaps appropriate for the first third of the novel, but once the couple are on more… intimate terms, surely Franklin could manage to humanise her with her own given name? Their relationship escalates absurdly fast and seems to bud from nowhere but Françoise’s sex appeal. Franklin cannot describe any event without paying an interminable tribute to her ‘clear, dark eyes’ or ‘smooth breasts beneath her blouse’. No, they don’t connect on any psychological level either - unsurprisingly. In turn, her unfounded and specious devotion to Franklin belies any of the agency she exhibits elsewhere in the novel: it is her only apparent motivation. Not the state of her country, or the fates of her mother, brother or her father. Give me one solid character trait of Françoise, go on, I dare you. Franklin preys upon her naivete and apparent lack of life experience. She functions as no more than a plot device: sure, she helps save Franklin on more than one occasion, but she is never established as a real character; she doesn’t gather a personality, just in the way that the other French characters remain stereotypically gauzy, aloof and whimsical. And let’s not forget the frequent incidents of what read like sexual assault. Franklin is constantly touching her up, without Françoise giving him any reason to believe that she consents to this. No, I’m not nitpicking, read this:
Franklin, after partially removing Françoise's blouse and being told not to, whines, "You said you'd do anything for me." Then, following said assault/tryst, he asks (oh so tenderly, as Bates likes to remind us) : "Did you mind what happened to-night?"
Did she mind? Did she MIND?
'No' means no.
On a fundamental level, the style is incredibly dated. Bates relies extensively on exposition, and his prose is extremely repetitive in its word choice and phrasing. Awkward adverbs include ‘acidly’ (not in the modern sense, but referring to bile, nausea and other bodily fluids - nice) and the euphemism ‘sickness’ to describe vomit. Unfortunately, much of the tension that raises its head in the final two chapters is compromised by this sort of circumlocution. But there are redeeming factors. Of course there must be. The banter of the squadron is wonderfully endearing and the ambience of the French landscape is exquisite. There is also one profound act of sacrifice at the very end of the novel which adds a shade of redemption and perhaps the only compelling moment of the entire story. And the opening ending certainly saved us from the saccharine crap that would inevitably have followed.
Wow, I can’t believe how angry this made me, especially on a reread. This should have, in theory, done much for women in roles of resistance. Instead, it does a profound disservice to Françoise and almost belittles the sacrifices that she made. Why can’t brave, resourceful and reasoning women exist without the unnecessary burden of sex appeal?! At least I should be grateful that the war is certainly not as sentimentalised as so many modern interpretations are these days. Travesties like The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Nightingale, I’m looking at you. I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I had hoped: oh, Françoise, honey. Snap out of it, girl! It’s a shame, Mr Bates - you were doing really well, too.
November 26, 2010
I finished “Fair Stood the Wind for France” this morning, which gripped me to the last paragraph. I’ve read endless novels about the war but this was one of the most reflective, one which really tried to take a singular human view of the cataclysmic world events. While it affirmed that life goes on, and even flourishes in such circumstances, that the human spirit can triumph in adversity, it also heavily underlined the “agony of all that was happening in the world”. It was very moving in a quite understated way and I’m sure the memory of the themes it addressed will stay with me for a long time. And they were big themes. Love, love of country, romantic love, love of fellow men, comradeship, loyalty, despair and death. Reading it, you felt that living through the war threw people into a life that couldn’t be lived under any other circumstances, where things were appreciated anew and ordinary people were forced to think about these big themes and live their way through them. You like to think that it was written so large, and so terribly in the end, with the camps and the atom bomb, that it could never happen again, because the “little people” referred to in the novel just will not let it. But wouldn’t we be daft to think so?
November 13, 2024
Found in my local neighbourhood library with a blurb on the back saying that it was “…..perhaps the finest novel of the war…” A big call. Released in 1944, so I imagine this would have been a popular novel of its times considering that the war was not over. It seems to have kept it popularity enough to have a 4-hour TV series made in 1980. I have no recall of that on the ABC here in Australia but have had a look at the YouTube. I got about 20 minutes in and gave up. To be truthful it is not my kind of thing, and I am not sure that I have been particularly entranced by the book itself.
A basic plot of a Wellington bomber crash landing in occupied France with the lead character John Franklin being badly injured. Along with the rest of the crew they are taken in by a French farming family and at great danger to themselves the family assist the pilots. Franklin falls for the farmers' daughter as she does for him, and we get a mix of romance and derring-do escape adventure. It all felt a touch contrived to me and the French daughter being constantly called ‘the girl’ throughout did not sit well with me.
Be that as it may I have to take into consideration that it was aimed at a British wartime audience and I think my mum, a child of the war would have enjoyed this. I suppose for me, it has not stood the test of time, not even as a period piece.
It is an easy read at only 254 pages and I have finished it in 3 days so it did hold my attention. I thought that the writing at times was less ambitious than it may have been.
Ian’s has enjoyed this a bit more than I have, and I recommend his review for an alternate view.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A basic plot of a Wellington bomber crash landing in occupied France with the lead character John Franklin being badly injured. Along with the rest of the crew they are taken in by a French farming family and at great danger to themselves the family assist the pilots. Franklin falls for the farmers' daughter as she does for him, and we get a mix of romance and derring-do escape adventure. It all felt a touch contrived to me and the French daughter being constantly called ‘the girl’ throughout did not sit well with me.
Be that as it may I have to take into consideration that it was aimed at a British wartime audience and I think my mum, a child of the war would have enjoyed this. I suppose for me, it has not stood the test of time, not even as a period piece.
It is an easy read at only 254 pages and I have finished it in 3 days so it did hold my attention. I thought that the writing at times was less ambitious than it may have been.
Ian’s has enjoyed this a bit more than I have, and I recommend his review for an alternate view.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
June 21, 2015
This is not your typical World War II novel. It doesn't focus on the brutality and the atrocities that were so much a part of the war. It's a very personal story, a story of compassion, bravery, and love. It's the story of British pilot John Franklin, whose plane was shot down in occupied France, and Francoise, the daughter of a French farmer who hid Franklin and his mates from the Germans. It's the story of bravery and sacrifice by Francoise's family, and of the love that grows between Franklin and Francoise. Just a very enjoyable read.
December 12, 2017
By the time that this novel was published in 1944, H.E. Bates had been publishing all manner of literature for almost 20 years. Writing seems to have come naturally to him. His second novel (the first having been discarded) was published when he was a mere lad of 20. When the Second World War broke, he had another eight published novels to his credit, along with children's books, short stories, and essays. Since the Air Ministry recognized that readers of the time would prefer to read stories about the lives of service members than facts and figures about military manoeuvres, Bates was commissioned by the Royal Air Force to fill that need.
This novel is a fine example of the kind of story that interested Bates's readers during that period of history, and it is my favourite kind of war-time novel. The blood and gore is minimal -- more implied than explicit. The story offers a pleasant balance between beautiful, peaceful pastoral scenes which help the reader to relax and sink into the scene and action scenes which keep one turning pages quite ferociously.
The initial cast of characters is whittled down early in the story to focus on one injured English pilot and the farm family in rural occupied France who hid him and nursed him back to health. As the story progresses, the reader (and in fact the pilot himself) grows to admire, respect, and even love this French family for their unshakeable faith and courage in spite of the horrors that they and their friends and neighbours had endured.
The ending did not come as a surprise to me, and to some readers it may seem like a disappointment, perhaps slightly "too" happy. It did, however, in the final paragraphs bring to the fore another poignant truth about the lengths to which a person may go for the sake of the safety and happiness of a loved one. And it is probably the kind of ending which appealed to the reading public in 1944!
I would recommend this novel very highly to readers who enjoy that era of gentle but captivating literature. It tells a spell-binding tale without grabbing you by the throat and thrusting shocking scenes in front of you. For that reason, I would happily read it again -- something that I rarely do!
This novel is a fine example of the kind of story that interested Bates's readers during that period of history, and it is my favourite kind of war-time novel. The blood and gore is minimal -- more implied than explicit. The story offers a pleasant balance between beautiful, peaceful pastoral scenes which help the reader to relax and sink into the scene and action scenes which keep one turning pages quite ferociously.
The initial cast of characters is whittled down early in the story to focus on one injured English pilot and the farm family in rural occupied France who hid him and nursed him back to health. As the story progresses, the reader (and in fact the pilot himself) grows to admire, respect, and even love this French family for their unshakeable faith and courage in spite of the horrors that they and their friends and neighbours had endured.
The ending did not come as a surprise to me, and to some readers it may seem like a disappointment, perhaps slightly "too" happy. It did, however, in the final paragraphs bring to the fore another poignant truth about the lengths to which a person may go for the sake of the safety and happiness of a loved one. And it is probably the kind of ending which appealed to the reading public in 1944!
I would recommend this novel very highly to readers who enjoy that era of gentle but captivating literature. It tells a spell-binding tale without grabbing you by the throat and thrusting shocking scenes in front of you. For that reason, I would happily read it again -- something that I rarely do!
December 2, 2017
This is one of those novels that was difficult for me to rate. The writing was wonderful at times. My measured view is a four, but it was an engrossing, sensitive, thoughtful portrayal of the Second World War and the lives of those caught up in desperate times.
October 1, 2019
I need to sit a moment until my heart stops thudding. A thrilling adventure. A masterpiece. Emotional on every level. I could not put this one down. Five stars!
January 20, 2019
My first 5-star read of the year.
First published in 1944, Fair Stood the Wind for France was written in the midst of WW2, a time when its author – the British writer H. E. Bates – could not have known precisely how or when the conflict would end. A fascinating point considering the subject matter at hand. Described by some as one of the finest novels about the war, Fair Stood is in fact much broader than this description suggests. Amongst its many themes, the book touches on the need to trust others in times of uncertainty, the blossoming of young love in the most dangerous of situations, and the pain of loss as it continues to reverberate over time.
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
First published in 1944, Fair Stood the Wind for France was written in the midst of WW2, a time when its author – the British writer H. E. Bates – could not have known precisely how or when the conflict would end. A fascinating point considering the subject matter at hand. Described by some as one of the finest novels about the war, Fair Stood is in fact much broader than this description suggests. Amongst its many themes, the book touches on the need to trust others in times of uncertainty, the blossoming of young love in the most dangerous of situations, and the pain of loss as it continues to reverberate over time.
To read my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2019...
April 11, 2018
A very moving account of war torn France.
Beautifully written, a compelling tale of love and redemption set against the horrors of war!
Beautifully written, a compelling tale of love and redemption set against the horrors of war!
December 9, 2025
Earlier this year I read H. E. Bates’s ‘Flying Officer X’ stories, written and published while he was ‘embedded’ (to use the modern term) with an RAF bomber station in 1942-3. They are a remarkable fictional record of the real experiences of young men with expected life spans of no more than months. Fair Stood the Wind for France explores the same theme with the same intensity and sensitivity at novel length. It’s the story of a bomber crew who crash land in occupied rural France on their way back from a raid in northern Italy, and how they are hidden and protected by a mill owner and his family. Central to the story is John Franklin, the crew’s first officer, who suffers a horrendous injury to his arm in the crash, and his developing relationship with Francoise, the mill owner’s daughter. Bates, as always, writes lyrically about the countryside and is particularly good at evoking the sights, smells and tastes of a hot French summer that are fresh and new to a group of young English men who, despite numerous flights over the continent have never set foot in Europe. But this is 1942-3 and occupied France is a dangerous place; this is no rural idyll and shocking violence is never far from the surface. For a book that was published in 1944, the psychological impact on the French of occupation (and then later in the book, of living under the puppet Vichy regime) is remarkably perceptive and subtly expressed, as are the compromises that have to be made to survive and the risks involved in aiding Allied airmen on the run.
At heart, Fair Stood the Wind for France is a love story and an adventure story. That it succeeds in being both while also being a remarkable contemporary study of the psychology of war and moral courage is a tribute to Bates’s great skill as a novelist.
At heart, Fair Stood the Wind for France is a love story and an adventure story. That it succeeds in being both while also being a remarkable contemporary study of the psychology of war and moral courage is a tribute to Bates’s great skill as a novelist.
July 26, 2024
I'll admit, I bought this book for 50p from a supermarket charity bookcase because I thought the cover was cool and would look good on my Instagram feed. However! I was rewarded with one of the most beautifully written, compelling stories about the Second World War I have ever read, to the point where I purposefully slowed down my reading speed to make it last just a bit longer.
I love simpler stories like these, that feature the day to day life of ordinary people. English pilot John Franklin finds himself living in the home of farmers near a small French town after his plane comes down leaving him badly injured, and over the course of the next few months he falls in love with the girl that lives there as he recovers.
I was so invested in the characters and the story that I really felt every tense moment, and I almost didn't want to read the final chapters in case something awful happened. The author really has a way of connecting you to the story that reminds me of The Memory Police, which was another favourite of mine.
I love simpler stories like these, that feature the day to day life of ordinary people. English pilot John Franklin finds himself living in the home of farmers near a small French town after his plane comes down leaving him badly injured, and over the course of the next few months he falls in love with the girl that lives there as he recovers.
I was so invested in the characters and the story that I really felt every tense moment, and I almost didn't want to read the final chapters in case something awful happened. The author really has a way of connecting you to the story that reminds me of The Memory Police, which was another favourite of mine.
October 27, 2013
A romance during wartime in occupied France. A British pilot crashes his plane and he and his crew set off across the countryside. The pilot has suffered an injury and becomes delirious with infection. A French family takes them in and helps; this family includes a young woman who falls in love with the pilot and he with her. It is a slow moving book but very tense. Romance set against death and grief. Wartime set against the natural beauty of the French countryside. The tension builds to a crescendo by the end and it has a very powerful and moving ending. Altogether a very good book.
July 21, 2013
From BBC radio 4 - Classical Serial:
Dramatisation by Maddy Fredericks of HE Bates' classic tale of danger, suspense and romance in Second World War France.
When a British aircrew ditch over Occupied territory in the summer of 1942, injury and suspicion dog their attempts to survive and escape.
Dramatisation by Maddy Fredericks of HE Bates' classic tale of danger, suspense and romance in Second World War France.
When a British aircrew ditch over Occupied territory in the summer of 1942, injury and suspicion dog their attempts to survive and escape.
July 3, 2018
Set in occupied France during the Second World War, this book was written while the war was taking place which adds an additional dimension of suspense to an already suspenseful story.
The suspense begins early on when John Franklin, the young British airman who is the protagonist of this story, realizes that his plane has malfunctioned forcing him to bring it down in a French field. “He was aware of all the sound of the world smashing forward towards him, exploding his brain, and of his arms striking violently upward, free of the controls. For a moment he seemed to black-out entirely and then the moon, hurling towards him, full force smashed itself against his eyes and woke him brutally to a moment of crazy terror. . . He felt his left arm strike something sharp, with sickening force, and then the moon break again in his face with bloody and glassy splinters in a moment beyond which there was no remembering.“
The reader can probably predict what happens next: Franklin and his crew make it to a farmhouse in the country where they are hidden and kept safe for a time until false papers can be obtained in order for them to be smuggled back to England. Meanwhile Franklin falls in love with the beautiful young daughter of the farmer, etc. etc. But even though the rest of the story follows predictable lines I didn’t mind at all because what I found most appealing about this novel was how it focused on what it was like for ordinary people who were living their lives as best they could despite the horrors of war.
This novel doesn’t focus on graphic battlefield descriptions or on the atrocities that took place during WWII. Nor does it dwell on what happened when innocent men, women and children were tortured and killed in retaliation each time French citizens engaged in acts of sabotage and resistance. Instead the reader is given a glimpse of what life was like in Nazi-occupied France and the courage of the French people who were willing to take amazing and enormous risks because it was the only way they could fight against the Nazi regime.
The suspense begins early on when John Franklin, the young British airman who is the protagonist of this story, realizes that his plane has malfunctioned forcing him to bring it down in a French field. “He was aware of all the sound of the world smashing forward towards him, exploding his brain, and of his arms striking violently upward, free of the controls. For a moment he seemed to black-out entirely and then the moon, hurling towards him, full force smashed itself against his eyes and woke him brutally to a moment of crazy terror. . . He felt his left arm strike something sharp, with sickening force, and then the moon break again in his face with bloody and glassy splinters in a moment beyond which there was no remembering.“
The reader can probably predict what happens next: Franklin and his crew make it to a farmhouse in the country where they are hidden and kept safe for a time until false papers can be obtained in order for them to be smuggled back to England. Meanwhile Franklin falls in love with the beautiful young daughter of the farmer, etc. etc. But even though the rest of the story follows predictable lines I didn’t mind at all because what I found most appealing about this novel was how it focused on what it was like for ordinary people who were living their lives as best they could despite the horrors of war.
This novel doesn’t focus on graphic battlefield descriptions or on the atrocities that took place during WWII. Nor does it dwell on what happened when innocent men, women and children were tortured and killed in retaliation each time French citizens engaged in acts of sabotage and resistance. Instead the reader is given a glimpse of what life was like in Nazi-occupied France and the courage of the French people who were willing to take amazing and enormous risks because it was the only way they could fight against the Nazi regime.
May 16, 2019
There's a particular smell associated with the Second World War...the fragrance familiar to me from museums, Churchill's War Rooms, National Trust houses, and the few things passed down to me from my Grandfather...it's leather, machine oil, metal, and hope, mixed with the scent of blood, sweat and tears.
This is a moving tale of small acts of defiance, not big gestures. There are no shoot outs or nasty Nazis wearing monocles and riding boots. There are some downed RAF airmen, one badly injured, hiding out in rural occupied France..and a difficult but plausible escape. They rely on the kindness and generosity of the wary French. And the bravery. If they were caught helping the British they would face execution. The fliers would have been captured as POWs.
There's a rather gentle undercurrent of a love story too which feels very 1940s (that's a good thing), all proper and distant and slow burning. But it's all in the details; people staring into the middle distance, wind in the trees, autumnal fruit, the dusty floor of an old mill. In these straightened times, doctors are embarrassed they can't provide anaesthetic and the hosts humiliated they can only serve eel.
H.E. Bates brings this lost world alive again. You can feel it. It's in the fields of mud and the rattle of a bike chain..the spilled air fuel and the pocket of a flying jacket..the taste of three day old bread and the press of a bandage.
And, you can smell it.
This is a moving tale of small acts of defiance, not big gestures. There are no shoot outs or nasty Nazis wearing monocles and riding boots. There are some downed RAF airmen, one badly injured, hiding out in rural occupied France..and a difficult but plausible escape. They rely on the kindness and generosity of the wary French. And the bravery. If they were caught helping the British they would face execution. The fliers would have been captured as POWs.
There's a rather gentle undercurrent of a love story too which feels very 1940s (that's a good thing), all proper and distant and slow burning. But it's all in the details; people staring into the middle distance, wind in the trees, autumnal fruit, the dusty floor of an old mill. In these straightened times, doctors are embarrassed they can't provide anaesthetic and the hosts humiliated they can only serve eel.
H.E. Bates brings this lost world alive again. You can feel it. It's in the fields of mud and the rattle of a bike chain..the spilled air fuel and the pocket of a flying jacket..the taste of three day old bread and the press of a bandage.
And, you can smell it.
August 17, 2014
A surprisingly beautiful, bittersweet novel that was moving and enjoyable
Got this in a charity second hand book sale years ago, but never read it because World War 2, romance and planes have never been my favourite fiction themes. However, the imaginative title always caught my attention so I finally started it.
I had expected a novel written in wartime to be painfully jingoistic and motivational in that odd "come through adversity to win the war over the culturally less deserving enemy" style. H E Bates' love of Britain (and France) isn't like that. This is a book about people, not peoples. The main characters do have some traits that would've been idealised for each of their nations, but they are individuals not stereotypes. It's an intensely personal romance against the odds of the suffering, fear and chaos that comes from war. War and unknowing fear are the bad guys here - the German occupiers themselves are rarely seen and their brutality is reported rather than described first hand. This indirect experience adds to the fear that really cripples Franklin - nicely contrasted with the simple faith of Francoise.
The ending is at the same time intensely sad and uplifting. A message that in the midst of all the pain and confusion, it is possible for love, faith and hope to survive and in O'Connor's case be strengthened(
Got this in a charity second hand book sale years ago, but never read it because World War 2, romance and planes have never been my favourite fiction themes. However, the imaginative title always caught my attention so I finally started it.
I had expected a novel written in wartime to be painfully jingoistic and motivational in that odd "come through adversity to win the war over the culturally less deserving enemy" style. H E Bates' love of Britain (and France) isn't like that. This is a book about people, not peoples. The main characters do have some traits that would've been idealised for each of their nations, but they are individuals not stereotypes. It's an intensely personal romance against the odds of the suffering, fear and chaos that comes from war. War and unknowing fear are the bad guys here - the German occupiers themselves are rarely seen and their brutality is reported rather than described first hand. This indirect experience adds to the fear that really cripples Franklin - nicely contrasted with the simple faith of Francoise.
The ending is at the same time intensely sad and uplifting. A message that in the midst of all the pain and confusion, it is possible for love, faith and hope to survive and in O'Connor's case be strengthened(
February 13, 2012
I became a fan of H.E. following the TV adaptation of his 'Love for Lydia' in the late '70's - curled up with my girlfriend on her parents'sofa, the lyrical romance of it chimed with the way I felt at the time. A couple of years later, ejected from the sofa, I gloomily devoured more of Bates' lushly melancholic rural romances, but when it came to the wartime novels I baulked, hence this novel stayed on my shelf for over thirty years. Taking it down a couple of days ago I tried really hard to like it but ultimately didn't get on with the Boys' Own aspect of the story. For me the whole thing reeked of propaganda - bluff British heroism set against furtive French capitulation. As it was written in 1942 this is perhaps forgivable, but seventy years on it grates.
January 26, 2014
It's such a long time since I read this, I can't remember much detail! I bought it as my husband was playing the role of navigator in the TV adaptation. I was working for his agent at the time, and when I heard he'd got the part, I bought the book for him as a present. When I got home and he looked questioningly at me, I said "You've got the part!". Always nice to be able to tell an actor they've got work!
March 11, 2021
If you read a book written in 1944 there is little point complaining that it reads as though it was written in 1944, but this does read like it as written in 1944. Specifically I didn't find the love affair convincing (it felt a bit like Bates' attempt to have his 'Farewell to Arms' moment). Nor, despite the characters constantly saying it, did I feel the prose actually conveyed any sense of danger. Then there is the ending great for a film script, but a little too neat and coincidental for a book.
May 15, 2025
4.25*
November 10, 2013
John Franklin is an English pilot who crashes his plane into occupied France and finds refuge for himself and four sergeants at a nearby farm. Luckily for him, one cool cucumber, Francoise, resides on the farm with her father and her grandmother. Francoise is a smart, young French girl who faces all kinds of adversity, including Nazis, in that awesome French insouciant way, and she isn't at all fazed when five dirty Englishmen pop out of the field while she's feeding her chickens. The men must somehow gain passage out of France, assisted by Francoise and her family. Meanwhile, living in occupied France is no picnic as there are Jerries everywhere, shortages of almost everything, and potential French collaborators lurking about.
This makes the book sound way more adventurous than it is. A lot does happen -- there is the plane crash, Franklin must sneak into town in plain view of the Nazis, there is some gruesome medical stuff, a family tragedy, the escape, and the Nazis being Nazis -- but the book itself is not action-packed. Franklin is anxious to get back to England, but he is very introspective, so the book sort of meanders along. He obviously falls in love with Francoise because she is so awesome, and he isn't above being irrationally jealous of one of the younger sergeants who speaks flawless French; he suffers from intense bouts of homesickness for England; he frets over a serious medical emergency and contemplates a future without flying. There is always an undercurrent of suspense -- will they escape and make it back to England? What will happen between Francoise and Franklin? Will Francoise's family be shot for hiding the Englishmen? -- but it's all very thoughtfully described.
Francoise is the best because every time something dangerous happens, she basically shrugs and takes a long drag of her Gauloises. Franklin is a thoughtful, considerate young man who you realize is only 22 when all this is happening. TWENTY TWO! It continually shocks and appalls me to think of what was asked of young people during the world wars. Yet I remain obsessed.
This makes the book sound way more adventurous than it is. A lot does happen -- there is the plane crash, Franklin must sneak into town in plain view of the Nazis, there is some gruesome medical stuff, a family tragedy, the escape, and the Nazis being Nazis -- but the book itself is not action-packed. Franklin is anxious to get back to England, but he is very introspective, so the book sort of meanders along. He obviously falls in love with Francoise because she is so awesome, and he isn't above being irrationally jealous of one of the younger sergeants who speaks flawless French; he suffers from intense bouts of homesickness for England; he frets over a serious medical emergency and contemplates a future without flying. There is always an undercurrent of suspense -- will they escape and make it back to England? What will happen between Francoise and Franklin? Will Francoise's family be shot for hiding the Englishmen? -- but it's all very thoughtfully described.
Francoise is the best because every time something dangerous happens, she basically shrugs and takes a long drag of her Gauloises. Franklin is a thoughtful, considerate young man who you realize is only 22 when all this is happening. TWENTY TWO! It continually shocks and appalls me to think of what was asked of young people during the world wars. Yet I remain obsessed.
October 11, 2013
Reading this tale of a Second World War pilot whose plane comes down in German-occupied France is like walking into a world which is both exquisitely beautiful and terrifyingly dangerous. Badly injured, John Franklin is hidden by a French family at their remote farmhouse, which puts them and the daughter who he falls in love with at terrible risk. It is a story of fear, bravery, betrayal and the raw strength of love.
HE Bates was commissioned by the RAF and, due to his first-hand experience, his war-time novels show how it was to live through such perilous times. I read him because I want to be a better writer, and I love his sparkling Larkin novels for their sheer raucous entertainment.
HE Bates was commissioned by the RAF and, due to his first-hand experience, his war-time novels show how it was to live through such perilous times. I read him because I want to be a better writer, and I love his sparkling Larkin novels for their sheer raucous entertainment.
May 18, 2017
A love story, an adventure story, the effects of WWII, a gripping thriller, a comrade’s poignant sacrifice. All rolled up into one.
Not until the final two pages did I learn the fate of the two main characters.
The author, H. E. Bates, was a Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. (England’s air force). So he had firsthand knowledge of things. Some of his published works then bore the pseudonym “Flying Officer X”.
Fair Stood the Wind for France was published a year before VE Day. The war was still raging as Bates wrote his story.
Maybe that explains why I felt like I was there with the fallen pilot, Franklin, and his struggles. It all felt very real to me.
Remarkable.
Not until the final two pages did I learn the fate of the two main characters.
The author, H. E. Bates, was a Squadron Leader in the R.A.F. (England’s air force). So he had firsthand knowledge of things. Some of his published works then bore the pseudonym “Flying Officer X”.
Fair Stood the Wind for France was published a year before VE Day. The war was still raging as Bates wrote his story.
Maybe that explains why I felt like I was there with the fallen pilot, Franklin, and his struggles. It all felt very real to me.
Remarkable.
September 7, 2016
My father flew in Wellington bombers in the second world war and often describes flying over the Alps ,so this really gripped me. I thought it was beautifully written and enjoyed it a great deal. A very different kind of war novel.
March 13, 2016
Very engaging story. Review to come!
September 7, 2019
Really 3.5 stars, disappointingly. The first 40% of the book was great, heading for 5 stars from me. Bates has my favorite sort of writing style--chock full of atmospheric detail, internal reflection, and propulsive plotline. Our group of British airmen have a winning camaraderie and their soldierly tactics are interesting. The French family they engage with are seasoned, tricky, and somewhat mysterious. The whole story up to page 104 is from main character Franklin’s point of view.
Where it started to run into trouble for me was on page 105, where the POV switches to that of “the girl,” Francoise. Franklin is full of admiration and feelings for Francoise, but I had supposed that his perception of her absolute confidence, canniness, and calm must have been formed as an idealized vision by a foreign young man desperate for help. Her chapter was our chance as readers to get to know the real Francoise, without any language barrier or Franklin’s filters. Well, turns out that she has no deeper complexity to reveal, but simply a gigantic inexplicable faith that God will make everything work out okay. That was disappointing.
The story itself loses some energy from that point forward also. One of the characters takes a surprising action at probably the 60% point—and because Bates didn’t lay the proper groundwork for this event, it rings false and further distances the reader from what started out as a really involving book. Later chapters bring large coincidences—Francoise’s God at work, I suppose!—but highly improbable to most of us.
I chose this book off my shelf as a way of getting more familiar with French countryside geography. Unfortunately, wartime requirements prevent the reader from ever finding out exactly where the main action takes place. One named city is attained at a certain point, so that’s something. Another mystery is why Franklin and the author continue to refer to Francoise as “the girl” for most of the book despite the fact that we learned her name way back on page 50. I imagine that one’s been analyzed somewhere by feminist scholars specializing in the literature of the ‘40s.
Where it started to run into trouble for me was on page 105, where the POV switches to that of “the girl,” Francoise. Franklin is full of admiration and feelings for Francoise, but I had supposed that his perception of her absolute confidence, canniness, and calm must have been formed as an idealized vision by a foreign young man desperate for help. Her chapter was our chance as readers to get to know the real Francoise, without any language barrier or Franklin’s filters. Well, turns out that she has no deeper complexity to reveal, but simply a gigantic inexplicable faith that God will make everything work out okay. That was disappointing.
The story itself loses some energy from that point forward also. One of the characters takes a surprising action at probably the 60% point—and because Bates didn’t lay the proper groundwork for this event, it rings false and further distances the reader from what started out as a really involving book. Later chapters bring large coincidences—Francoise’s God at work, I suppose!—but highly improbable to most of us.
I chose this book off my shelf as a way of getting more familiar with French countryside geography. Unfortunately, wartime requirements prevent the reader from ever finding out exactly where the main action takes place. One named city is attained at a certain point, so that’s something. Another mystery is why Franklin and the author continue to refer to Francoise as “the girl” for most of the book despite the fact that we learned her name way back on page 50. I imagine that one’s been analyzed somewhere by feminist scholars specializing in the literature of the ‘40s.
January 13, 2022
A simple tale, sparingly told of a RAF bomber that ditches in occupied France. John Franklin, the Captain, is injured in the crash and is sheltered in a French farm while he recuperates. The developing relationship between Franklin and Francoise, the young farmer's daughter is the backbone of the narrative. There is perhaps a little too much of the stiff upper lip British propaganda feel to Franklin, but I can forgive that (the war was still on), but what astounds me is the willingness of the French to feed, clothe and assist the stricken British Airmen with no hope of reward even after the war (they never revealed their location on a map in case of capture and interrogation), and absolutely everything to lose. Great story, gripping to the last page.
February 26, 2018
Written in 1944, this is the account of a pilot`s crash landing and subsequent escape from occupied France. He is badly injured and he and his four man crew set off walking west. They arrive at a farm where the people are friendly and help. There is a girl and the inevitable happens, they fall in love. The complications because of his arm are enormous and the French deciding to riot in the nearby town don`t help!! It is historically interesting because the escape route eventually takes them through Vichy France, about which I know very little. I found the style rather old fashioned (not surprising) and at first not easy to read, but the tension is well maintained, enjoyed it.
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