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by Tanya Allan
It is September 1944, Jamie Cameron is a young British army officer trapped behind enemy lines at Arnhem in the Netherlands. Forced to hide in a cupboard as the Waffen SS wipe out his unit, he then has to make some hard decisions as to how best to evade the enemy and return to Allied lines. The problem is that only female attire is in the house in which he is hiding.
However, Jamie himself unwittingly holds a secret of which even he is unaware, which may help, or hinder his plans. Jamie ventures into a harsh world controlled by the SS who are being forced to retreat as the Allies press inexorably towards the Fatherland. Initially his disguise holds, but one young disillusioned German officer begins to take a particular interest in the young French ‘girl’. Posing as a French girl, Janine Chavanay, Jamie struggles to work as an interpreter for the SS, and even has to document British soldiers from his old unit. Fearful of exposure, his already complex life is further complicated when the German Officer falls in love with Janine.
As Janine’s body changes to come into line with her adopted gender, Janine ceases to see herself as Jamie, as a male, or really as British. All the edges become blurred, as she struggles to deal with her personal difficulties and the small matter of the Second World War. Pitched to fend for herself by the Germans, she faces an even greater task, to return to the Allied lines and meet her father. Will he come to terms with the loss of a son and the gain of a daughter?
It doesn’t help that he is Major General William Cameron.
