The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, Skios and Swimming Home

More of a thriller than the dramas I normally choose. But it is not a crime thriller. The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer is a homage to the thirty-nine women of the French Section of the Special Operations Executive who went on missions to France between May 1941 and September 1944. Marian Sutro is half French and half English and is recruited to go undercover to what she considers is her homeland. Her training takes her to many interesting places, and she makes friendships that materialise later in the story. We do get to know her intimately as the story moves with pace to occupied France. Marian's character is well drawn, she is young, brave and beautiful. And we get a great feeling of what is was like on both sides of the channel during those dark days. The writing is smooth and intelligent and the action flows from the page. This is a gripping tale of subterfuge, but more than that, it is Marian's story. And one that is so very well told. I have the author's The Glass Room on my shelves ready to read.

I'm afraid that Michael Frayn's farce Skios is not my sort of book. This story of mistaken identity will make many people laugh, but not me. I have to admit it was amusing in places, but the whole plot was far too silly. It will, however, make a brilliant movie, it actually reads like a film script, right up to the blockbuster ending. The author is far more suited to the stage and film, "Noises Off" and "Clockwise" show he is a master of this particular form. His best novel is "Spies" which won the Whitbread (now Costa) novel of the year in 2002.

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy is a strange little book. The setting is a holiday villa in the south of France. Two couples and one teenager arrive to find a young woman who says she stays there sometimes. And yes, she is invited to stay. What happens during the week is somewhat elusive. Not in a material sense, but just what the author is trying to say. The writing certainly captures the tense atmosphere that develops but I am surprised it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Unsettling.