2.5 stars

Wow. This was a very disappointing read. This is Nevil Shute off the rails. Generally, Shute novels, no matter the content or story line, are comfort reads for me. They often take place during wartime and can involve descriptions of suffering. But Shute somehow generally manages to keep his stories uplifting with characters we respect and love. My GR friend Sara mentioned recently that Shute novels are about decent people.

Well, something went wrong with Most Secret, a WWII story. This was a huge departure from the usual Shute fare. Absolutely not a comfort read. The essence of the plot is that the English devised a scheme to raise the morale of the people of Brittany who were suffering under the German occupation. The scheme was essentially to use an old fishing boat for disguise in order to infiltrate the waters off Brittany and use a flame thrower to burn up German ships and, of course, the German crews. The descriptions of the Germans being set on fire and burning were horrendous. So were the gleeful reactions of the English crew who enjoyed watching their "success" and planning future sorties to go back and "burn up more Germans."

I actually d the English crew members but this book shows what war and ambition can do to the nicest people.

Also different for Shute, the narrative of this novel was convoluted and cumbersome. I was often bored and/or confused, especially for the first half which introduces the crew (it's a very long introduction).

There were definitely moments that I enjoyed in this book but the problems far outweighed these better parts.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review2021 audio britain ...more34 s Chrissie2,811 1,442

Reading this brings memories of Brittany flooding back. Tears cloud my vision, but wonderful remembrances bombard me too. The story is extremely well told! I've had a hard time choosing between four or five stars.

Look at the number of books IÂ’ve read by Nevil Shute. See the list below. Not all have been wonderful. This one is, in my view, one of the best, and not just because Brittany, a place I love, is where the tale is set--in 1941 during the Second World War.

Shute is, as always, meticulous in giving his readers accurate details. He captures extremely well the spirit and character of the Breton people. I have lived among them for many years, and so I believe I can say this. To learn of the Breton people is reason enough to pick up this book. You learn also of what happened in Brittany during the war.

Character portrayal is of primary importance in the tale told. We learn of five men. They work together on a mission of espionage for the British government. Their project goes beyond espionage. What they do is extremely dangerous. The probability that they will come out of this alive is not high.

Two things make the book better than most espionage tales. The first is the focus upon charactersÂ’ personality traits. This makes you care about what happens to them. The second is the clarity with which events are explained. Nothing is hidden from the reader. We are not, for the purpose of suspense, intentionally kept in the dark. I want to understand every step. Shute makes all crystal clear. Since we know the charactersÂ’ backstories, we come to care for them and thus what happens to them matters to us.

Each of the five I spoke of has a different story. One is attached to a dog and a rabbit. Do animals have a soft spot in your heart as they do in mine? Another character is half English and half French. To which country does his allegiance truly lie? This is a question that both he (and I) often think about. Anyone having lived in several countries will relate to this character. That which he does at the end, I best not even hint at. It is so praiseworthy, honorable and good! The narrator of the story is of the British Admiralty. Through this character is voiced a military point of view. This is cleverly done. His choice of occupation after the completion of the mission is thought provoking.

I havenÂ’t told you of all five characters, but each and every one of them has a story that pulls you in. Their lives come together in Brittany. We watch what unfolds there during the Second World War.

DonÂ’t think women are not involved in the menÂ’s stories. They are. Their roles may be said to be just as important as those of the men.

This is a war novel. DonÂ’t expect light reading. Are you acquainted with flamethrowers? They are an incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. The horror wrought by these instruments hits home. The horrible things done by the Germans to the Breton people hits the reader very hard too. That the strong-minded and independent Bretons fought back is understood.

The land and the sea and the fishing villages are all accurately drawn. Where places are situated is described clearly in the text. One could say that one scarcely needs to pull out an atlas. Nevertheless, had I not known where places were, I would have wanted a PDF file with a map.

Look at the number of books IÂ’ve read by Nevil Shute. Not all have been wonderful. This is in my view one of the best.

Roger May narrates the audiobook. It was good. I have given it three stars. It is easy to follow. The reason why I have not given the narration more stars is because he seems to have a set number of voices and he patches them on the characters depending upon their behavior at a particular moment. When a character is weak or submissive you hear one voice. You hear that same voice when a different character acts weak or submissive. The result is that the different characters do not each have their own unique voice. He does capture English, American and French accents well.


********************

*The Chequer Board 4 stars
*Most Secret 4 stars
*No Highway 4 stars
*The Far Country 4 stars
*Landfall 4 stars
*Beyond The Black Stump 4 stars
*Pied Piper 3 stars
*Ruined City 3 stars
*Trustee from the Toolroom 3 stars
*The Rainbow and the Rose 3 stars
*Requiem for a Wren 2 stars
*Pastoral 1 star
*So Distained 2 stars
*Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer TBR
*On the Beach not available to me
*A Town Alice not available to me2022-read adventure audible-uk ...more24 s1 comment Ian Laird369 75

Minor tidying up, 10 July 2021.

Nevil Shute led a full, varied and active life in peace and war, which informed his work as a novelist.

Shute was an aeronautical engineer with a successful business career in aviation, specifically airships. He flew his own plane to Australia after World War Two to research On the Beach, and ultimately settled near Melbourne. Serving in the Royal Navy during the World War Two, Shute worked on ‘secret projects’ which I’m willing to bet are not a million miles away from the events of Most Secret.

This is the story of a daring initiative to equip a French fishing boat, Genevieve, with a flamethrower, to wreak havoc on the Germans close to the coast of occupied France.

Two features immediately struck me about this book: its authenticity and the masterly storytelling.

The story feels real. ItÂ’s told from a back room perspective, where we learn the genesis of the operation; we see the bureaucratic interaction between the various services, specific organisations Coastal Command and the individuals recruited to do the deeds. The marine craft are well described, their characteristics, operation and especially the weaponry deployed on them. The technical descriptions of the flamethrower are compelling; how it worked, how it would be fitted to the fishing vessel, how the oil and flame mix worked and the constituents of the devastating Worcester Sauce oil.

The other structural element which works well is the gradual unfolding of the story, layer by layer as each major character is introduced. Shute uses his central figure, Commander Martin, to tell the tale. Martin co-ordinates the mission from the back rooms of the Admiralty, but is not part of the action. Apparently this is a device Shute used regularly. We meet Charles Simon, the Englishman who is just as much Frenchman, expert in ferro-concrete and a recreational sailor; Oliver Boden, son of a Bradford wool spinner, married to Marjorie, the daughter of his fatherÂ’s business partner and childhood soulmate, expecting their first child. Oliver serves on anti-mine trawlers before joining the Genevieve; Michael Rhodes, a young scientist who comes up with the technical requirements for the flamethrower. He strikes up a tentative romance with a WREN driver, both shy people on unfamiliar ground. Finally, an older American merchant mariner, John Colvin, much married and divorced. Each of them has a back-story, which adds poignancy when events come to their conclusion.

Shute adopts a retrospective approach to the action sequences, the actual operation itself: ‘this is what happened…’. A little hard to get used to at first. Why not locate the characters in the events as the action unfolds? Ultimately it does not matter, because the approach adds a realistic, documentary feel to the story, because you get observation and opinion as well as the facts. It is just as intriguing, to learn what has happened as opposed to what is happening.

The operation is quite small scale, audacious and geographically vivid. The characters are convincing, some slightly more than others; the American is not quite as well drawn as Boden or Rhodes, with whom Shute perhaps was in more familiar territory, even though Shute would have known Americans serving in Britain. Their motivation is always convincing. The action scenes are tense and tension remains throughout the lengthy periods during which several characters remain in occupied territory.

At a number of points in the narrative the morality of using such a fearsome weapon as a flame thrower, burning people to death, seems morally indefensible. The question is never fully decided, and ultimately the implied justification is that the enemy deserved no better. The raids do, however, have a galvanising effect on the local French population, which in fact was one of the motivations for the mission.

This is a powerful story, best illustrated by a civilian casualty. Marjorie Boden has come down to London. She is caught in air raid: A sharp, bitter smell of smoke was blown to her. In sudden fear she raised her head and saw, arising from the ruins of the house next door, a tongue of flame. She stared at it dumbfounded. Then she realised it meant the end.

In those last moments she was agonised by thoughts of Boden, and of their dependence on each other. She cried: “Oh Nolly dear, I’ve gone and let you down! Whatever will you do?” The smoke came pouring up the staircase well and gushed around her, products of combustion, stifling and merciful. In a few moments she lost consciousness. (p116) Later, Commander Martin talks with Michael Rhodes in his hospital bed after the Genevieve has been sunk:
“I see,” I said. “What happened to Boden?”
Rhodes said: “Oh he was killed.”
"Did you see him killed?”
"No sir.”
"Was he the officer who was on the keel of the boat, firing with a tommy gun?”
“Yes, sir. They were all talking about it in Douarnenez. He put out the searchlight. Jules was the man with him, sir.”
“How do you know he was killed if you didn’t see it?”
There was a pause. “He wanted to be killed,” Rhodes said. (p367) english-author fiction wartime18 s Greg382 130

5 May 2016
The reliably endearing quality of Shute's novels is still there, but is severely compromised in this one, I found, because of the exteme contrast between the charming genteel manners and personal interests of the characters, and their cold blooded desire to kill all Germans in the most gruesome manner possible, incinerating people with a flamethrower. There is no differentiation made in the novel between Nazis and Germans. It was obviously written for a market sentiment in Britain straight after WWII, first published 1945, which makes it very dated now, and which I thought today was somewhat offensive.

I took this novel away on an Easter holiday camping break, for something light to read. I have d all of the other Shute novels I've read. As it happens, while I was reading 'Most Secret' when I was camping, near us were a very nice German couple, and then a few days later, a nice young German couple on holiday in Australia camped right next to us. I am aware these sort of coincidences are telling me something.

7 May 2016
Talking of coincidence, a couple of days after the above post, I bought a copy of Graham Greene's Collected Essays..., on the back cover synopsis is a sentence. Greene wrote "Moral judgements are singularly out of place in espionage". This would have been a good quote at the front of 'Most Secret', as that changes everything in looking at this WW II novel.1940s british-authors england ...more9 s Bill1,781 99

Nevil Shute continues to be one of my favourite authors. I've now read 4 or 5 of his books and each one has been so excellent. I can't sing the praises of books On the Beach, Pied Piper and The Far Country enough. Today I finished Most Secret, published originally in 1945, during his war period.
On the surface, it's a simple war story, 4 men of diverse backgrounds coming together to devise a plan for the English to harass and destroy German assets and at the same time to give new courage to French citizens on the French coast, who have been under the thumb of German rule throughout the war.
But as always with such a well-crafted Shute story, it's much more than that. Shute takes the time to tell us about the characters, to develop feelings for them and what they've been through. His narrator is a Navy Commander, drawn into the scheme to bring fire to the Germans, who becomes invested in them and who tells their story in such a matter-of-fact way, but also manages to provide us with the emotion and caring he has for Simon, Boden, Rhodes and Colvin.
Shute also adds in the Navy Wren who is assigned to transport the crew, the Commander and who falls in love with Rhodes. The story is one of great heroism and daring and also fairly technical in its own way. The plot basically is to convert a French fishing vessel into a raider, equipped with flame throwers to go across to France and fight the Germans. That is it in its very simplest forms. The four men each has his own motivations, which you find out throughout the story.
I thought as I read it, that yes, it's a pretty interesting story, but more and more I became invested in these characters, even with Rhodes' rabbit and by the end felt quite choked up with the ending and how everything turned out. Shute writes in a very understated manner but at the same time manages to get you completely involved in his story. His heroes are everyday people who strike a deep chord with you. Another of my favourites. (5 stars)adventure bill-s-favourites fiction-historical ...more8 s Ian855 62

When I started reading this novel I assumed it had been written in the post war years, but there was an odd reference early on to the Royal Navy defeating an attempted German invasion of Britain in September 1940, something we know didn't really happen, which led me to check the date of authorship. It appears the book was actually written in 1942, and was published in 1945. There are both pros and cons to reading a period piece this. On the one hand the social mores of the day are perfectly captured in the way the characters speak to each other and otherwise interact, and the book conveys wartime attitudes that are difficult to reproduce today. On the other hand, you get the full on emotions of a Briton writing in 1942, and the characters express a hatred of Germans that at times makes for uncomfortable reading, though of course that is a modern day reaction and not one that would have been felt at the time.

In any case this is an excellent read. The story is told retrospectively by a Commander Martin of the RN, and concerns an operation to use a Breton fishing boat, brought to England at the time of the French armistice, as a means of launching covert raids into occupied France. The story is built around the fates of four officers, 3 Navy and 1 Army, involved in carrying out the raids, with the operation overseen by Cmmdr. Martin. Three of the officers are outsiders in some way. One is half-French, one has spent the last 20 years in the States, and one is a socially awkward introvert. All four are embittered against the Germans because of events during the war, and their bitterness is important to the plot. The novel spends some time introducing each character in turn and giving us their backstory, but this feature adds rather than detracts from the novel, allowing the reader time to identify with each. Once the team is assembled the novel moves on to the raids themselves, and again the story is well told although a little "propagandist" in tone. There is also a subplot involving a love interest between one of the officers and a young woman serving in the Wrens. Separately, throughout the book there is a weird mystical theme about the cleansing power of fire, which is one of the uncomfortable aspects for the modern reader. I thought the ending was very effective, although to avoid spoilers I won't say any more about that. This maybe isn't for everyone, but overall I was impressed.4-star-lit-fiction england fiction ...more8 s Laura7,009 591

Free download available at FadedPage

This book was recommended by Chrissie.

A fast pace book, extremely well narrated, keeping the reader's full attention. Interesting story based on some real story with Britany as scenery and playing a piece of resistance against the Germans with some help of some British heros.

5* A Town Alice
2* On the Beach
4* Pied Piper
4* Landfall
4.5* Most secret
TR The Rainbow and the Rose
TR Trustee from the Toolroom
TR The Chequer Board
TR No Highway
TR Requiem for a Wrenaustralian-fiction e-books fiction-20th-century ...more4 s Beverly GrayAuthor 6 books6

I have long been a fan of Nevil Shute. I was delighted to discover that a number of titles I have not read are now available for the Kindle and the Nook.

MOST SECRET was his usual job of craftsmanship. The characters were memorable and, as with many of his works, there was a subtle moral issue at the core of the book.

The following description comes from the book's product overview: Aboard a fishing boat named “Genevieve,” a small group of British officers and French fishermen—armed only with a flame thrower and small arms—plan a secret commando mission against the might of the German army after the fall of France in World War II. Each man has experienced a terrible loss of one kind or another, and each is fully prepared to face the risks of their desperate gesture of defiance. MOST SECRET is classic Shute: a thrilling tale of sacrifice and courage and the heroism of ordinary men that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

The moral dilemma for the characters is quite simple: Is it justifiable to use terrible weapon (a flame-thrower in this case) against the Nazis who have used the same and worse themselves? Typical of Shute, this is not a bang-over the head discussion in the narrative nor does he ever declare himself one way or the other. Instead, he leaves it to the reader to work it out via the characters and their views about it.

It is not a happy book (but then many of his are not). This is England and France in the early, desperate years of World War II with France already a defeated nation and England hanging on by an eyelash. Yet, through the despair of the times, there are moments of courage and hope (also typical of Shute).

I recommend this book highly.3 s Zora1,336 60

More convoluted narrative devices that slowed the book down. (I want to visit his grave and yell, "Just tell me the g.d. story!" But I guess that'd be weird. And ineffective.)

But, that said, a thrilling war tale with great characters. You really root for the rabbit guy and his Wren. The attack on the Germans is a horrendous thing, really, but he takes time to make you believe they'd all been logically brought to this morally ambiguous place.

It also struck me that there is no bloody way a book this would be published today, with all that necessary character background. Today Shute would be instructed to blow something up on page one, and keep blowing something up every few pages, and it'd be a far worse book for that.3 s Vikas Datta2,178 137

Truly vintage Shute! If you had to read one book about war, especially the demands it makes, the heroism it evokes and the cost it levies on the participants, especially those on the front lines, then you cannot do worse than to pick this one up. Not only does Mr Shute depict with immaculate detail the planning and the very 'nuts and bolts' of operations, the stories of the characters and the very structure of the narrative are engrossingly engaging. 3 s Dwayne Roberts417 47

A fine Nevil Shute (WWII-Europe) war-time story. Very realistic characterizations, dialog, action.2 s Lili1,103 17

This is a book I read years ago and I enjoyed it immensely. I’ve read all of Nevil Shute’s books. The best by far is “A Town Alice.”novel paperback2 s James322

I know they say don't judge a book by the cover, but that's exactly what happened here and I was not disappointed. 1 David59 1 follower

A wonderful read!1 Karen Smith87

I appreciated the different character developments in the at times horrendous circumstances of this novel.1 Sasha1,103 16

Written in 1945 this action adventure clearly was created to capitalise on post war sentiment but the characters Shute has created stand up well to time - you can understand the motivations of each of the main characters and empathise with them as the war takes a toll on their lives. More than half the book is taken up with each of the major character's backstories from childhood to present so we readers fully understand how each man is motivated to take the actions that end lives in such a painful way as a flamethrower can cause.
We learn about these men and the actions they take through a third party - an officer in the admiraltiy office in London. A junior officer charged with co-ordinating a minor operation. In this way 'Most Secret' reminded me of "A Town Alice" where we are also told the story via a third party, in that case a lawyer, not having read any other of Shute's works I don't know if it is typical but it is certainly different that the ususal first person accounts of action stories. This technique could make the tale a bit passive but it doesn't instead we wait impatiently for news just as the man telling the tale does - not knowing if our 'heroes' are alive of dead. adventure drama english-set-uk-author ...more1 Dianne297 9

Nevil Shute at his brilliant best. Even though the substance of this war time Book was gruelling, in that the weapon devised against the German occupiers of coastal Brittany in France was fire cannon. Horrible in its operation and feared by every soldier, this was employed to encourage the people in Brittany who were suffering under the occupation.
That aside, Most Secret is beautifully constructed as each main character is drawn in detail for the reader. I felt I knew each one as their role in this drama unfolded.

The main action of the story was told in retrospect by the narrator. I thought this was a sensible ploy as it gave documentary style authenticity to the narrative.

Shute obviously knew the ins and outs of the weapons, boats, ships, planes that participated in the action of WW2 in Britain and across the Channel. His writing commands respect and is gripping until the end.1 Peter193 8

In truth this is a bit of "Boys' Own..." fiction. It was written mid-way through WW2, although I believe that actual publication was delayed almost until war's end. I'm an admirer of Shute's work, but acknowledge that it can be variable. I enjoyed the book, but I feel it's important to bear in mind the context of 1942 - just after the worst of Hitler's Blitz on Britain - before rushing to judgement on some of the sentiment and morality. Certainly do not start on Shute with this novel!1 Christiane1 review

I think N. Shute is a brilliant writer. I read most of his novels and found them interesting. There is always a streak of romance in them. But the people are real people, simple and described with lots of details. I his description of war-torn Britain and what it does to people. own1 Clare Smith220 4

A great read with complex and layered characters who the author manages to portray surviving war times in a seemingly simple way. Having recently re-read Shute's first novel also I can really see how his writing had progressed by this novel. This novel is written eloquently and concisely.1 David Foster193 1 follower

Great war story. Offers a better understanding of what French villages went through under German occupation. Nobody is a saint during war!1 William24

This biographic narrative moves unexpectedly, and rather slowly, from one person to another. The three main characters have their own issues and troubles. Their deeper foibles are only hinted at by the author. It is unclear where it is going until two of the characters come together on an abandoned French fishing boat on the south coast of England. Just as you think things are speeding up, the story slows again towards the anticipated action. For the reader, there is too much pondering before getting to the point. It isn’t that complicated. However, getting your mind into the context of hating Germans so much that you want to torture them with a flamethrower is difficult for the modern reader. Yet it comes naturally to the three main characters of this novel (and their superiors) – you only know there is some doubt about it from the Wren, Barbara Wright. In this case, as in most of his books, Shute’s portrayal of women is incongruent with modern views, though perhaps it reflects contemporary cultural norms. He inserts, as a key component of the tale, some of his quirkier religious views, emanating from a French priest – these are entirely unscriptural, at best silly, and at worst evil.

After the slow start, the action proper starts in Chapter 8 which, along with Chapter 9 make great reading. Having said all that – as always Shute’s stories keep you interested – in this case, only just enough, until you get to the main game. The finish, up to chapter 11, is gripping. An interesting question is posed at the end, regarding the overall effect of the operation on the future of the war. As fiction, written during the war, this question could well be asked of many similar, small ‘undercover’ operations undertaken by commandos or ‘special branch’. Some of the implications of such work has only come to light in recent years.
Josephine Draper261 1 follower

If you get the Nevil Shute bug you are infected forever. This book is not his best, suffering a little from the disjointed nature of the plot and the long starting section giving you the backstories of each of the characters. Yet it is a credit to Mr Shute that multiple backstories and a very "boys' own" storyline of wartime heroics can be gripping more than 50 years later.

"Most Secret" refers to the classification of reports concerning a fishing vessel and its secret missions to wartime France. The book describes the creation of a disparate crew of experts to carry out raids on occupied Brittany. While as ever Nevil Shute is extremely readable, the storyline lacks the flow and panache of say, A Town Alice or Pied Piper. This is the fault of the plot to a certain extent - the "Most Secret" dispatches forming focus points around which the plot is revealed curtail the flow. The other slight problem is that there is no one character with which to sympathise - by creating several leads the reader struggles to know who to focus on.

Notwithstanding these criticisms, I would still recommend this book. For a Nevil Shute fan it's a must, but it's unly to convert too many new fans. I still read it in a couple of days though, and now I want to re-read all my other Nevil Shutes - his writing has that kind of effect on you.
(One of my old , consolidating on Goodreads).fiction historical-fiction thriller ...more Robert447

I was probably first introduced to the writings of Nevil Shute via the film version of his novel of the same title, On the Beach, about a world dying from radiation poisoning in the wake of a nuclear conflict. Rereading his Wikipedia biography, I find it fascinating once again to see just how much his books drew upon his amazing life experiences - sometimes literally. This adventure novel is no exception to the rule. Published in 1945 though written in 1942 (per Wikipedia), this is the story of how a disparate group of men come together in wartime to find that their varied interests and backgrounds can be combined in a rather unusual war to strike a blow. The book has the clean simple language and narrative flow that one might expect from an author who trained as an engineer and had already published a number of successful novels. The settings, characters, and their adventures might be considered a bit staid and even stuffy by today's standards but I enjoy the peek Nevil Shute provides into a world now long in the past. crime-spy-thrillers intelligence-espionage war-fiction SueAuthor 1 book31

I did not finish the book. I would have been appalled if I would have met anyone with that craving of seeing a human burning the way it was described in the book, and I certainly would not want to read about, and I am disappointed that N Shute took it on himself to write about it. Good writer as he was, he captures one's attention, but this time, in my opinion, for his shame.
I do not see any difference between a gestapo man torturing his victim or the officer of her Majesty's Navy hitting an u boot with missiles and regretting not being able to see the suffering of the dying Germans, because they locked in their death trap. So he desperately WANT to see them burning.
I am not keen to hear - "they started it"- either, because that, again in my opinion is no answer for the bestial attitude. Silvana Pellegrini Adam72 17

I sommeren 1941, hvor 2. verdenskrig raser, præsenteres romanens fortæller commander Martin fra det britiske admiralitet for en ide: En lille båd med navnet Genevieve skal forklædt som fiskerbåd men bevæbnet med småskyts og navnlig en flammekaster snige sig ind på de tyske krigsskibe, der bevogter den franske by Douarnenez fiskerflåde. Officerene bag planen er uldvarefabrikantsønnen Oliver Boden og dyrevennen Seymor Rhodes, støttet af den fransk-engelske flygtning Charles Simon. De får det grønne lys og sammen med den verdensomstrejfende John Colvin og en flok Frie Franske giver de sig ud på nogle farlige togter over Den engelske kanal.

(Strengt fortroligt (Most Secret) er en engelsk krigsroman af Nevil Shute, skrevet i 1942 men censureret indtil 1945, hvor den blev udgivet af Pan Books.) Alistair289 7

I only read so far because I have enjoyed previous Shute novels especially Requiem for a Wren

Set in WW2 after Dunkirk

Having read about half I still had no idea who was who . Every character is given a potted or not so potted biography and by the time they feature in the actual real story I was even less interested in them .

I could not even distinguish the main narrator and not sure there was one

It is all about the assembled cast pretending to be fisherman and crossing the channel to German occupied northern France in order to surprise them and using a flame thrower incinerate them . Not pleasant and pretty futile I would have thought .

I can' t remember one memorable scene .Perhaps they came after I stopped reading

There are some very good Shute novels . This is not one of them

Nancy55 2

Early in WWII, when France was occupied by the Germans, a small group of Allied fighters devised a novel means of striking back and lifting the spirits of an occupied village (Douranenez) in Brittany. One of the sardine fishing boats of this village somehow found its way into British hands. Some enterprising young men came up with the idea of using fire against the Germans—apparently the thought was triggered by something a Catholic priest said to a British spy in Breton. (Brittany). Germans were said to be afraid of fire and to use fire as a weapon themselves. The fishing boat was weaponized with a flamethrower and German (“rahmboats”) “ minder” boats that accompanied the sardine fleets were sprayed with oil & set on fire.
Serge86 2 Shelved as 'ww2-memories-and-side-effects'

The author's style is spoiled somewhat by the constant switches from first person to third person narration, especially since the narrator's character is ill defined. Yet, the style is excellent overall. It shows the enormous courage of the resistance fighters, both British and French, and their unwavering dedication. This is a novel written right after the war, with true sentiments as they were at the time, not one of those historical ones written with modern sensitivities in mind. I was deeply engrossed in the story, moved by the sacrifices taken by the characters. Having visited the area in Brittany where the action takes place (including la Pointe du Raz, le Tas de Pois and Le Conquet), I was impressed by the authenticity of the setting. Paul209 11

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