Overview

"True Blue" tells the story of how two people, a man and a woman, in spite of their different origins and persuasions, find themselves in an unfamiliar situation in Germany at the height of the Cold War in 1959 during the operation of the Berlin air-lift. And how, by the honest examination of those differences, finally result in love.

Characters and Background

Both are members of Britain’s Royal Air Force: He an upper-class, much-decorated Anglican ex-Battle of Britain fighter pilot, and she, a lowly conscript of the Woman’s Royal Air Force (WAAF), daughter of a Jewish working-class London family whose main function on meeting is to serve refreshments in the officer’s mess and whose paths would not normally cross.

The Romance Development

Unwittingly, for reasons unknown to them both, they develop a magnetic and romantic attraction. The book also describes the environment of their romance as they saw it in immediate post-war devastated Berlin. After returning to England, they marry.

The Jamaican Connection

One of the invited guests was a volunteer Jamaican navigator who served during the Berlin air-lift. He, the scion of a wealthy, influential Jamaican family, offered the couple the use of their beach cottage in Jamaica for their honeymoon. They accept, and the book then describes Jamaica as it was in pre-independence days and the couple’s enjoyment of the gift.

Motivations and Migration

Ulterior motives then emerge for the reason of this generosity; the need, after independence of Jamaica, for a replacement BOAC resident airline manager. The post is offered and, after debate, accepted by the couple. Arrangements are made, and they then migrate to Kingston, where the book ends with descriptions of colonial Jamaica as it was then and the happy outcome of the unlikely officer’s canteen romance.