It's Different Abroad
She was Helen McLeish, spinster, age thirty-four, hair brown, free, in love wit the little red car she was driving. She was in love with everything, for she was abroad for the first time in her life, on her way to visit her sister and brother-in-law, who were vacationing in France.
It was while she stopped for customs that two men, Berry and Laurent, slid into traffic behind her. “Are you sure that’s her?” Berry asked.“She’s the one,” said Laurent. And the two men began to follow her.
From that moment on Helen’s vacation was filled with unusual activity – and, to her absolutely bewildered amazement, she needed rescuing fairly constantly from some extremely dangerous and unpleasant situations.
This is a delicious suspense novel, with an extremely attractive hero, a French garage man, and an extremely attractive and sensible (one the whole) heroine, a Scottish spinster.
Published:
1963 London, Hutchinson1963 New York, Harper & Row1963 New York, Perennial1963 New York, Dell
Comments :
“Mr. Calvin treads the tight-rope of spy comedy quite brilliantly, never drops into total farce or complete seriousness.” The Sunday Times
“Quite charming, with a dollop of crime to season a touching little love story. It seems that Mr. Calvin can do it any way he likes.”The Guardian
“A suspense novel … a detective story, but happily varying in tone from anything else I have read in more than two decades … different … delightful. Read it.”The New York Times.
“ … the plot twists so deftly executed that the whole show adds up to just about the best suspense job of the year.”Columbus Dispatch
“A delightful, suspenseful excursion into France.”Chicago Tribune “What is remarkable and delightful, Mr. Calvin imparts a flavor of satire to what he renovates and compels us to take straight.”Jacques Barzun “Henry Calvin is a new writer who writes with such deceptive simplicity and directness; to me that is storytelling at its best.I found myself on Helen’s side right from the first page. She and her garagiste – and isn’t he a refreshingly unusual hero? – kept growing on me steadily and unobstrusively until I ended up completely involved in their affairs.I loved the whole thing and after I’d finished it took satisfaction in the thought of how neatly the villains were disposed of so as to cast no cloud on the future.”Doris Miles Disney
“Quite charming, with a dollop of crime to season a touching little love story. It seems that Mr. Calvin can do it any way he likes.”The Guardian
“A suspense novel … a detective story, but happily varying in tone from anything else I have read in more than two decades … different … delightful. Read it.”The New York Times.
“ … the plot twists so deftly executed that the whole show adds up to just about the best suspense job of the year.”Columbus Dispatch
“A delightful, suspenseful excursion into France.”Chicago Tribune “What is remarkable and delightful, Mr. Calvin imparts a flavor of satire to what he renovates and compels us to take straight.”Jacques Barzun “Henry Calvin is a new writer who writes with such deceptive simplicity and directness; to me that is storytelling at its best.I found myself on Helen’s side right from the first page. She and her garagiste – and isn’t he a refreshingly unusual hero? – kept growing on me steadily and unobstrusively until I ended up completely involved in their affairs.I loved the whole thing and after I’d finished it took satisfaction in the thought of how neatly the villains were disposed of so as to cast no cloud on the future.”Doris Miles Disney
Copyright 2025 The Estate of Clifford Hanley