BOOK REVIEW: The English Air by D.E. Stevenson

D.E. Stevenson was a Scottish author who published extensively in the mid-twentieth century. Her novels are sweetly charming, old-fashioned love stories with embedded moral messages. (See my review of Miss Buncle’s Book.)

I recently saw a review of The English Air, published in 1940, and although my library didn’t have it, they were able to get it for me through interlibrary loan.

The novel begins in 1938, just after the Austrian Anschluss. So it has the interesting perspective of being written in the early days of the war, looking back at the times leading up to it. Set in a small English port town, it is an extremely gentle dual love story, the main conflict being the differences between the English and the Germans.

Wynne Braithwaite is a lovely young British girl who has grown up innocent and carefree, spared memories of the First World War that still haunt her Aunt Sophie, who raised her. She fully expects life to be easy, full of good friends, good times, tennis, and volunteer social work. When a distant cousin, Franz von Heiden, comes for a visit from Germany, she is eager to get to know him and show him around.

Franz is half-English, though a bit ashamed of it. He’s a young Nazi, devoted to his Leader, whose father is an important man in the party. (He would be more important, but in his early days, he mistakenly fell in love with and married an English wife. That wife was Sophie’s cousin and best friend. He took her back to Germany, made her miserable, and was relieved when she died so that his career could get back on track.) Franz has grown up with much of his father’s prejudice.

He is sent to England by his father to gauge the English temperament. His father anticipates a report that they are weak-hearted, decadent, and will roll over and surrender if it comes to another war. But this is not what Franz finds. Although a fish out of water at first, Franz comes to admire the friendly, good-natured English, who harbor no enmity for the Germans, but who have backbones of steel. Franz grows healthy, strong, and happy in "the English air." And, naturally, he falls in love with Wynne.

Wynne’s aunt and step-uncle, Dale, remembering what happened to their cousin, are terrified of something similar happening to Wynne, and they essentially forbid Franz from courting Wynne. He understands their viewpoint, but doesn’t agree, until Hitler breaks his promise and marches into Prague. At that point, Franz realizes that Hitler is a problem, not a solution. Appalled, he returns to Germany to become part of the resistance.

No one knows where he has gone. Wynne grows sad, but is convinced he’s coming back. The story tracks Franz’s wartime efforts and Wynne’s devotion until he returns.

It’s a pleasant romance with strong, good people. However, it was such overt propaganda (not surprising given the times) that it detracted from the story. I can’t disagree with the Nazi- bad, English people- good, theme, naturally, but it was so preachy, without a drop of subtlety, that the story itself was weak and dated. It reads better as a period-piece, giving insight into the mind-set of people at war, than as a novel. It’s an interesting contrast to WWII novels that are written today that are much more gritty, horrifying, and yet show shades of grey.