ESCAPE FROM PARIS

The scary but routine adventures of two American sisters in 1940 Nazi-occupied Paris, centering on the nerve-jangling business of helping to spirit downed RAF pilots out of Occupied Territory and back to England. In spite of the gathering storm, young Linda Rossiter has opted to stay in Paris with sister Eleanor and Eleanor's teenage son Robert; Eleanor, who's lived in France for 16 years, hopes to hear word of husband Andre, lost since Dunkirk. Then, while dutifully passing out Red Cross packets in a prisoner-of-war hospital, Linda finds herself agreeing to help in the escape of Michael, a British pilot scheduled for a death camp. And this first truly dangerous drive—with a trunk-ful of British soldier—leads to other rescues, with the help of young Robert and Underground priest Fr. Laurent. Among the British airmen and soldiers rescued: gangrene-stricken Jonathan Harris, who is brought in secret to the sisters' Latin Quarter hide-out. . . with nursing from Linda and the inevitable romance. But the emphasis throughout is on the nitty-gritty Underground activity—the codes and signals, the fear of collaborationists, the fatigue, cold, and hunger. And after a particularly nasty SS officer puts Eleanor in a horrible prison, there'll be a series of hair's-breadth escapes, a wedding, a parting, and some happy news for the sisters staying behind in Paris. Competent, efficient, utterly predictable.