Fair Stood The Wind For France

Not many books change your life. HE Bates had a magical ability to evoke scenes of beauty and peace. In this novel, against a background of violence and fear. When I first read 'Fair Stood The Wind For France' as a schoolboy, I was attracted by the story of the heroic RAF bomber pilot shot down behind enemy lines in France, and his efforts to escape back to England. As I read it I realised that war was not heroic and glamorous, but filled with fear and disfigurement. Hardly an unique epiphany to be sure! But what brought it home to my fifteen year-old mind was Bates' simple illustration of his hero contemplating his inability ever again to open a bottle of wine and pour a glass. A banal task whose infinitesimal pleasure is usually lost against the noise of our lives. Bates brings home the happiness we can glean from the everyday, through his ability to conjure beauty from the mundane. Read this book for the beauty that Bates can evoke. Read it again to learn the value of a moment.