Fair Stood the Wind for France


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.

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 during the Second World War. 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-controlled Marseille 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.

Adaptations

The book was adapted into a 4-part television mini-series in 1980 for the BBC, starring David Beames as Franklin and Cécile Paoli as Françoise. This production is available on DVD, distributed by Acorn Media UK. In November 2009, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a two part dramatisation by Maddy Fredericks in the Classic Serial strand.

Publication history