''Fair Stood the Wind for France'' is a novel written by English author
H. E. Bates. The novel was first published in 1944 and was Bates's first financial success. The title comes from the first line of "
Agincourt", a poem by
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London.
Early life
Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...
(1563–1631).
Plot introduction
The story concerns John Franklin, the pilot of a
Wellington bomber, who badly injures his arm when he crash-lands the aircraft in German-
occupied France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. He and his crew make their way to an isolated farmhouse and are taken in by the family of a French farmer. Plans are made to smuggle them all back to Britain via
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais.
It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...
-controlled
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
but Franklin's conditions worsens and he remains at the farm during the hot summer weeks that follow and falls in love with the farmer's daughter Françoise. Eventually they make the hazardous journey together by rowing boat, bicycle and train.
Reception
Kirkus Reviews is positive: "A holding story - stark and sustaining interest -- less intricately plotted than some of the stories of escape, but with greater literary quality and emotional values...Bates is an accomplished stylist, he has an aesthetic awareness, a realization of the psychological casualties of war to make this more than external entertainment.
Adaptations
The book was adapted into a 4-part television mini-series in 1980 for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as Françoise. This production is available on DVD, distributed by
. A stage adaptation was produced at the
in April and May 1986. It was written by
. In January 1991
a transmitted a three-part Classic Serial also adapted by Gregory Evans and directed by
. In November 2009,
strand.