1940 and the eve of World War II. Young Joanna Shirley, daughter of a gentleman farmer in the Cotswolds, is going to have to earn her living. She goes to London and finds a job in an advertising agency and a new world opens up to her. Not that she’s some sheltered naïve girl – she’s already had a run in with the Gestapo whilst skiing in Austria. Intelligent, fluent in French and German, she possibly has more to offer her country that creating adverts and soon finds herself having to make some important moral decisions. Very much of its era, the book is a sort of time–capsule of a way of life that is soon to end for ever. But none of the characters know this yet, and nor did the author as he wrote this entertaining if somewhat dated novel in 1940 itself. It’s a good, fun read which gives a portrait of England at that particular time and place and within its limitations – some of the characterisation is admittedly stereotypical – it shows real insight and acute social observation. Well worth reading.