James De La Boullaye

Starting New Lives James De La Boullaye

The action of this novel, volume 2 of the "Destivel" saga, takes place just after the war in 1945-1947. We catch up with the characters of "A French Pilot in Gaitford" in very different settings. May 1945: peace in Europe. Colonel Philippe Destivel of the French Air Force must return to France and life with his cantankerous mother, Maggy, and his children. In the meantime, his English girlfriend, Victoria, will soon give birth in London. How will they manage to sustain their idyll? Françoise Dumaine, who was widowed in 1943, has been living in Algeria with her three children. Her return to France promises to be very difficult. John, a former pilot and mathematician, returns to Oxford University but is not happy there and wants to find a job elsewhere. Wilhelm, a newcomer to the saga, takes enormous risks in Germany to achieve his mysterious ends, but what exactly is he up to? All the characters must try to rebuild their lives, but destiny intervenes to make this task singularly difficult, derailing their plans.