Book Summary

The hero is an air force pilot who flew fighter aircraft in WW I. He is a colonel in WW II, based in Cairo, and part of his job is to help select suitable targets for destruction by bombing. He is serving in the South African Air Force and is very opposed to the British policy of concentrating on civilian targets.

My hero, whose wife was killed in an accident, is 48 years old and falls madly in love with a beautiful Canadian nurse aged 28. She has had a previous 4-year love affair with a famous plastic surgeon who is in charge of treatment of badly burned aircrew during the bombing of London.

Robert, the name of the Colonel, has a 19-year-old son named Peter who arrives in Cairo to join the main South African heavy bomber squadron. The last pages of the book decide whether Joan, the heroine, agrees to marry Robert or the surgeon. There are other characters. Peter has a close friend. Joan meets a younger lady from Alexandria who becomes a close friend.