Emergency in the Pyrenees

Philip Jamieson, husband of Julia (who has appeared in earlier Ann Bridge stories as the enchanting Miss Probyn) decides that she shall go to his house in the Pyrenees while he himself has to be in the Middle East on a special mission, as they are expecting their first child. It is a very male decision: the village is remote, with few facilities. In fact it proves to be most unsuitable and inconvenient.

Fortunately, Julia is succoured by efficient and attentive neighbours. There are, for instance, Nick and Dick, the twin sons of Lord and Lady Heriot, who live at Pau: there is also Bonne-court, climber, guide and hunter (who is not averse to conducting far more secret business). Above all Julia secures the companionship of the 'angelic Luzia', daughter of the Duke of Ericeira; who is among Ann Bridge's best creations.

The 'emergency' proves to be of a double nature - one of espionage as well as of domestic crisis, and the reader is firmly held in the grip of the intricate and exciting plot, in which a romantic theme is also interwoven.

Ann Bridge is a writer whose characters never fail to spring to life, and her understanding of peoples of many nations is allied with a strong, convincing narrative. The mood of her book is one of sunlight and happiness, in contrast to the squalor and disenchantment of so much modern fiction.