This is an historical novel mainly set on Gibraltar from June 1939 to November 1942. Tute cleverly tells the history of Gibraltar during this period while also telling the fictional story of the captain of HMS Firesprite, a fictional destroyer based in Gibraltar in the real H Force. Through the experiences of Captain David Evers, we are given the background on patrolling the Mediterranean, shepherding convoys to England, participating in the destruction of the Bismarck and shepherding convoys to Malta including the famous Operation Pedestal which was a desperate August 1942 attempt to get a convoy through to Malta to save the island from starvation and probably an invasion by the Axis. As well, we see through the captain's efes and those of this friends what life was like trapped on the Rock only a few metres from the border of Spain which was a supporter of the Axis.

While the war history is interesting, there are the personal stories of the men & women who live and serve in Gibraltar. Thus we have men & women falling in love and in some cases destroying one another. There are the personnel who fight spies and there are the Nazis and others who try to destroy British control of the Rock.

While a fairly lengthy novel, it moves along briskly and is definitely entertaining plus the history is accurate. ( )

A piece of WWII fiction dealing with a pair of unhappily married lovers and the particular difficulties of preserving one of the crucial harbours of WWII.. It seems pretty much by the numbers, but there is a nice picture of a G Class destroyer on the cover. It was originally published in 1957. ( )