At Dusk All Cats are Grey
It’s not only the cats slinking through the dark…
Twenty-two-year-old Joanna Shirley is the only daughter and child of Lady and Sir Robert Shirley.
Joanna grew up in the countryside of the Cotswold; in her view, she had an idyllic childhood roaming the rolling, green hills.
Her teens were spent socialising in France, Austria and Germany, where she learnt of her affinity for languages and accents.
In fact, while skiing once in Austria, her German was so good that she was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of being a spy…
It once seemed a jolly funny story to tell people, but now rumours that Hitler is edging his way to the Polish border and, feeling that now she must earn her own keep, Joanna moves to London.
While studying at secretarial college, she meets Peter Havelock – a dull, somewhat absent-minded man who is desperately in love with her.
She soon gets a job at an advertisement firm – Silvertops run by the esteemed P. J. Martin.
Like London as a whole, the firm is full of strange characters.
There’s the stalwart Miss Phillips who keeps the firm from ruining itself into bankruptcy – and the conceited womaniser and copywriter, Neil Trevor.
Trevor takes quite a fancy to Joanna but finds his old habits of woman, booze and lying hard to change..
Meanwhile, meeting Peter’s in-laws, Joanna meets Old Mr Havelock, who happens to also be a client of Silvertops.
While she makes an impression on him, she makes an even greater impression on Colonel Seymour – especially with her proficiency in French and German.
The Colonel wants to know if she’s interested in something a little more profitable and discreet than a receptionist.
All she has to do is report back about a group of Austrian refugees…
A sinister darkness is creeping over Europe, and Joanna finds herself unable to recognise the world she once knew so well…
A moving and thrilling tale, At Dusk, All Cats Are Grey offers a comic and pathos-filled glimpse into a world readying itself for the Second Great War.
Praise for Jerrard Tickell
‘Mr Tickell has a light touch and a delicate feeling for emotional relationships.’ – The Times Literary Supplement
‘Mr Tickell is a kind of light John Buchan, and there is more room for more authors of his quality.’ – Daily Telegraph
