When a C-54 airplane crashes en-route to Schipol in Holland, American pilot Bill Schoyen is the sole survivor. Grounded for one year and relegated to security work, Bill remains in self-imposed exile in England away from his home, his wife, and his children. He claims his reason for doing so is a sense of shame, but in fact he means to investigate the crash, suspecting sabotage.
Bill develops an obsession with unhappily married up-and-coming actress Emma Reynolds, who is appearing in repertory near his base. The two begin an affair that dominates all notions of duty or ambition - but when Bill's family arrives in the UK he is faced with a terrible choice. Alternating between the fashionable world of the theatre and an air base where a saboteur is at work, This Side of the Sky traces their dilemma with a blend of passion, sympathy and suspense.
'Its principal characters have ... depth and credibility and are involved in a situation that defies facile solution.' - Liverpool Echo
'Barlow more than any other English novelist writing today is in the direct tradition of the great 19th century Russian novelists' - Los Angeles Times
'James Barlow has been compared with Nevil Shute; and like him he is a splendid, extrovert storyteller' - The Daily Telegraph
'James Barlow... knows how to be entertaining and often exciting.' - Guardian
Genre: Thriller
Bill develops an obsession with unhappily married up-and-coming actress Emma Reynolds, who is appearing in repertory near his base. The two begin an affair that dominates all notions of duty or ambition - but when Bill's family arrives in the UK he is faced with a terrible choice. Alternating between the fashionable world of the theatre and an air base where a saboteur is at work, This Side of the Sky traces their dilemma with a blend of passion, sympathy and suspense.
'Its principal characters have ... depth and credibility and are involved in a situation that defies facile solution.' - Liverpool Echo
'Barlow more than any other English novelist writing today is in the direct tradition of the great 19th century Russian novelists' - Los Angeles Times
'James Barlow has been compared with Nevil Shute; and like him he is a splendid, extrovert storyteller' - The Daily Telegraph
'James Barlow... knows how to be entertaining and often exciting.' - Guardian
Genre: Thriller
Used availability for James Barlow's This Side of the Sky