The Dart Players

A day trip to France revives wartime memories in this tale made into the classic film A Day to Remember starring Stnaley Holloway.

When the members of the Hand and Flower Darts Club set out on a day trip across the Channel to take in the sights of Boulogne-sur-Mer, they can't begin to imagine how the day will end. Some haven't returned to France since the war, others had never made a trip to the mainland. All six split up in different directions and it isn't long before secret desires start landing these Englishmen in hot water . . .

For Jim Carver, it's been a lifetime since he set foot in Boulogne. He was Sgt. Jim Carver of the 25th Lancers then, thick as thieves with his mate George Holden and always up to his elbows repairing tanks. But George is long gone, buried in the local cemetery. The only other memory Jim has of his time in the French town are of a young girl called Marie-Josephe.

To his astonishment, Jim encounters the quite grown up, and engaged, Marie-Josephe at the cemetery as he visits George's grave, and finds himself drawn into his past with such intensity, he starts to question the direction of his future.

The six men make the crossing from England to France and have very different experiences, but only four of them will make the return voyage . . .

"A warm, low pressure English novel." —The New York Times

"Mr. Tickell has a light touch and a delicate feeling for emotional relationships." —The Times Literary Supplement