A STORY OF SABOTAGE, BETRAYAL AND THE TERRIBLE SADNESS OF EXILE. \'Remarkable\'The Times. \'A magnificent novel\'The Times. \'Gripping\'The Spectator. Scotland, 1940: The Fronsac, a French warship, blows up in the Firth of Clyde. The disaster is witnessed by three locals. Jackie, a young girl who thinks she caused the explosiong by running away from school. Her mother Helen, a spirited woman married to a dreary young officer; and their lodger, a Polish soldier whose country has just been erased from the map by Hitler and Stalin. All their lives will be changed by the death of the Fronsac.