Assignment in Brittany

1941 was the original publication date for Helen MacInnes's ASSIGNMENT IN BRITTANY and it will keep your seat in the chair today as a suspense/thriller. Matthew Hearne has an assignment in Brittany to collect intelligence information for the British army. He assumes the identity of a man who was evacuated at Dunkirk, but doesn't know the man is a collaborator. This story is fast passed and full of surprises as Hearne flounders and recovers to accomplish his goal and get out alive. Excellent reading. Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This novel is set in the summer of 1940 after the fall of France. Martin Hearne was parachuted into Brittany to take the place of Bertrand Corlay, a French soldier wounded at Dunkirk. Hearne was picked because his job was in military intelligence and he looked like Corlay's twin. Hearne returns to Corlay's home then observe the German military activity in this region. His reports, when correlated with others, will reveal what is happening. Corlay is questioned about his life, but does not tell all. A chemical is used to duplicate a birthmark, and a tooth is removed to match Corlay's dental records. When Hearne arrives at St. Déodat he learns of the estrangement with Corlay's mother, and, that Corlay did not tell all of his personal life! Hearne learns why schoolteacher Corlay had employment problems, and about his reading habits. Hearne hears a rumor about hidden German airfields that can bomb England. An American refugee is rescued and hidden. The German army moved in and requisitioned houses. People are no longer free to carry a gun (Chapter 13). There is drama when a collaborator is discovered (Chapter 17). Hearne continued his night watching of the military build-up. Was his luck running out (Chapter 23)? Hearne is questioned (Chapter 24), then rescued (Chapter 25). A traitor is punished (Chapter 27). Hearne escaped to the coast and was picked up by a British boat along with Anne (Chapter 29). The ending is ambiguous: will they live happily ever after? What will happen to the real Bertrand Corlay? Could an Englishman really master both French and the Breton language? When they made a film from this book they changed Hearne into a Frenchman, this is more believable. You can compare this story to the much older "The Prisoner of Zenda", or "The Great Impersonation". MacInnes described how the Germans used their overvalued Reichsmarks to loot occupied countries. Are people being swindled today by a devalued currency? The details about food and dress are skimpy. The 'Author's Note' says the backgrounds were as factual as possible, but real addresses or place names could not be used. History and politics were used to create the invented characters and plot. MacInnes says it is a misconception to say a writer must have personal experience to describe it. But personal experience, direct or indirect, can prevent errors in any fictional story. This novel lacks the minor facts that would come from a more knowledgeable writer. James Michener used to live in the areas he wrote about. This is an interesting story, but maybe an Ian Fleming or a John Le Carré could have written a better story about espionage in Nazi-occupied Brittany.

I am a fan of Helen MacInnes novels. They read like travelogues and she draws interesting characters with tightly woven plots. This one deals with the period between the fall of France and the Battle of Britain. The major character is an English agent who is parachuted into France to impersonate a French POW who is his double. He studies the man's life history and the plan is to carry the impersonation on long enough to conduct surveillance of German preparations for invasion. The location is Brittany and the story is well done. He discovers the Frenchman's secret, that he is a Nazi sympathizer, and finds domestic complications that he must deal with. The story is similar to Daphne DuMaurier's "The Scapegoat" in many ways. There is enough action and romance to keep the reader from noticing that the story is a bit dated. This is one of her better novels and I recommend it.

Great story of wartime bravery and treachery. Many things stand out about this book, among them the way MacInnes always seems to find the right location for each scene, the sharp dialogue that avoids cliche, strong characters and the action that is never allowed to become gung-ho as in many wartime adventure stories. The fact it was written during the war only adds to its quality.

Helen MacInnes became known for her cold war spy novels, but she started out (during WW2) by writing WW2 spy thrillers. Assignment In Brittany is my favorite of these early novels. When an injured French civilian (rescued from Dunkirk) happens to look almost exactly like a British spy, the spy is sent over to France impersonating the Frenchman. But unbeknownst to him, the Frenchman is really a Nazi collaborator. So he gets more intelligence information than he had bargined for, but runs a much bigger risk as well. The story works as kind of a cross between a spy thriller and The Return Of Martin Guerre. In particular, the spy falls in love with the fiancee of the Frenchman (an arranged marriage of convenience, not love). But he has to pretend to love the Frenchman's girlfriend, who is one of the Nazi agents. Inevitably his cover is blown, and he is forced to try and make a desperate escape. The novel was written while France was occupied.