The Swing

About the Book

Anyone who is fascinated by the Second World War in France will be drawn to this novel. The heroes are officers in the French and British Armies: Edmond de Valliet, a talented amateur pianist and artist: Robert Cummings a businessman, and a Territorial Gordon Highlander. He marries the pianist Anne Favoret, who voices France’s denial of Nazi ambitions in Europe in the 1930s.

Edmond and Robert retreat with the Fifty-First Highland Division to St Valéry where they are surrounded by Rommel’s tanks in June 1940. The author draws a stark contrast between personal loyalty and political expediency which contributes to the tragic surrender of some of Britain’s finest troops.

The novel unfolds against a backdrop of a hundred and fifty years of social unrest in France, and the division of church and state. The occupier and the collaborator, priest and aristocrat, receive little sympathy, but the manipulative tactics of the Resistance and the British Secret Services also come under scrutiny. In a war setting it confronts more ‘modern’ issues: homophobia, both societal and as a tool for blackmail, and the tussle between a woman’s professional and private life. Anne finds fulfilment playing the piano as part of a classical music team for ENSA. 

The prologue alludes to a mystery which holds the reader until the last page. What happened to Anne’s adopted sister, Marie, for whom Anne felt jealousy, guilt and protectiveness? When war breaks out, Marie is left alone in Normandy, torn between the persuasive voice of a former admirer, and her autocratic brother-in-law, Charles de Valliet.

Now an old woman, Anne has discovered the truth, She tells her

About the Author

Margaret Scott published her first poem inspired by Greek myths, told by her father, when she was seven. A year later, at her second primary school, she learned about the surrender of the 51st Highland Division at St Valéry en Caux, when a French delegation came to Elgin where many of the soldiers who were captured had been recruited. The memory of being told about the fog which had descended over the seaside town and prevented embarkation has always stayed with her.

She has shared her love of history, poetry and music, with her husband for nearly forty years. When she retired from being Head of Keyboard at Uppingham School, she started to write novels, of which ‘The Swing’ is the first. Many of the early episodes are based on her own experience, especially lessons with her first charismatic piano teacher whom she remembers with great affection. As she herself studied the piano in Paris, and lived there after her marriage, she describes the city and its unearthly beauty as a spiritual persona which is shared by all who know and love it.

First and foremost a teacher, Margaret’s style is strong and direct, and she has created a heroine who has the determination which is one of the author’s family traits.

Recently Margaret has written a series of short stories. ‘The first English Poem’, which was awarded a prize by the Writers’ Forum, is based on the legend of St Caedmon.