Blonde, beautiful — and desperate to survive in Nazi France

Around 200 Englishwomen lived through the German Occupation of Paris. Nicholas Shakespeare’s aunt Priscilla was one. Men in the street stopped to gaze at this blonde with the careless allure and raw beauty of Grace Kelly. Some fell instantly in love.

Her second mother-in-law thought her face showed truth and sincerity, and the reader shares this impression of integrity under duress. She was a reckless driver, yet was also shy, gentle and biddable. She had a beguiling habit of stroking your arm to show affection. She was not vain.

Born in 1916, hers was a rackety childhood. Her self-engrossed parents, imprisoned within a failed marriage, then in new partnerships, rejected her. Her stepfather imposed a tariff that licensed — in return for each Latin lesson — his shoving his hand up her skirt. She often woke screaming from nightmares. She escaped to study dance in Paris until osteomyelitis forced her to stop; and six years later she returned there with only a borrowed £5 note, pregnant by a feckless South African.