Fair Stood the Wind for France

Fair Stood the Wind for France
First US edition
Author H. E. Bates
Cover artist Nicholas Panesis
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Publisher Michael Joseph (UK)
Little Brown (US)
Publication date
 1944
Media type Print
OCLC 220638129
Preceded by 'How Sleep the Brave (1943)
Followed by 'The Cruise of the Breadwinner (1946)

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 (1563–1631).[1]

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.[2] 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.[3]

Publication history

  • 1944, UK, Michael Joseph, Hardback
  • 1944, US, Little, Brown and Co., Hardback
  • 1958, UK, Penguin, Paperback
  • 1970, UK, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-001279-6, Paperback
  • 1971, UK, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-582-23330-5, Paperback
  • 1983, UK, Chivers, ISBN 0-8511-9242-4, Large print
  • 1987, UK, Chivers, ISBN 0-7451-5779-3, Audio cassette, read by Nigel Havers
  • 1987, US, G K Hall, ISBN 0-8161-9667-2, Audio cassette
  • 1999, US, Blackstone, ISBN 0-7861-1494-0, Audio cassette
  • 1999, US, Blackstone, ISBN 0-7861-9935-0, Compact disc
  • 2005, UK, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-118816-2, Pub date 07 Apr 2005, Paperback
  • 2005, US, Thorndike, ISBN 0-7862-7218-X, Pub date 3 May 2005, Large print (p/b)
  • 2005, US, Kessinger, various, on demand

References

  1. ↑ Fair Stood the Wind for France Book Review essays
  2. ↑ "Fair Stood the Wind for France (1980)". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
  3. ↑ "Classic Serial: Fair Stood The Wind For France". BBC Radio 4 Programmes. BBC. Retrieved 2009-11-15.


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