The Free Frenchman

A young high-flying French civil servant, Bertrand de Roujay, from a conservative family in Provence, marries Madeleine Bonnet, the daughter of a free-thinking academic. The mothers of the young couple had been childhood friends, but the differences in outlook of the children are exacerbated by the political polarisation that has come over France at the time. We are in the 1930s with Communists and fascists fighting in the streets. The marriage does not last and France goes to war. Bertrand, now a Prefect, is refused permission to join the army; but after France's defeat and the armistice with the Germans, he decides that he cannot serve under Marshal Petain. He escapes over the Pyrenees and eventually reaches London where he places himself at the disposal of General de Gaulle.

Bertrand's life in France has introduced the reader to spies, priests, academics, criminals, politicians, prostitutes, policemen and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. In London, he becomes involved with the English and, when sent back to France by de Gaulle, with the different factions in the French Resistance. Bertrand becomes enmeshed in political infighting and mired in moral paradox as the story proceeds to a dramatic denouement.

Awarded the Enid McLeod Literary Prize by the Franco-British Society

'A marvellous novel of great scope and understanding.'

Anita Brookner, The Spectator

'Read has produced the intelligent person's blockbuster.'

The Times Literary Supplement

'People, ideas and issues jostle the pages as the narrative unfolds at a vigorous, race pace. Read weaves a tale of moral complexity and richness.'

The Sunday Times

'An ambitious and audacious novel…a sweeping and gripping narrative… Read is almost alone among our novelists in being bold enough to work on this scale.'

The Scotsman

'A vivid and vigorous story…. It is an absorbing depiction, rich in its old-fashioned attention to human behaviour.'

The New Yorker