When Julia Probyn came to sun-lit Portugal to cover a royal wedding for her paper, the last thing she expected was to find herself involved in the escape of an important Hungarian priest, ruthless Communists who pursued him, and the affairs of a young Hungarian countess just released from behind the Iron Curtain. The lvely countess, Hetta Paloczy, a convent school girl for two-thirds of her life and a cook to a rustic priest in Hungary for the rest, is suddenly plunged into an international society where social tact is just as important as the right clothes. Hetta had lived with poverty, hardship and danger for her daily bread and here, she vivdly relates her horrifying experiences in Soviet-dominated Hungary. Her adjustment to her new life in Portugal is complicated by the two men who are irresistibly drawn to her. One is a well brought-up American in the high Bostonian sense of the phrase; the other is outwardly much the conventional Englishman, but one who secretly adores recklessness.

When Julia undertook to find her cousin, Colin Munro, last heard of sailing a yacht off the north coast of Africa, the quest seemed lighthearted enough. But, before she had finished, she was involved with Moorish antique dealers, a Belgian woman archaeologist, Purcell, the enigmatic barkeeper, and American airman, the saurian Mr. St. John, and numerous other characters charming or sinister. Julia's search takes her a cargo-boart to Casablanca, and thence to Tangier, Fez and Marrakech. Her 'dumb-blonde' beauty, camouflaging a lively intelligence, gets her through unexpected difficulties and dangers. Colin is found, and the mysterious reason for his disappearance at last revealed...The first in a series of eight Julia Probyn novels, The Lighthearted Quest displays a blend of humour and adventure which transports us to exotic places and introduces us to entertaining people, but also throws a good deal of light on the explosive political issues that French Morocco encountered in the 50s.**

Author of best-selling novel Peking Picnic, Ann Bridge brings us her second novel set amongst the diplomatic circle of Peking. First published in 1934, The Ginger Griffin tells the story of a young English woman who comes to Peking to live with her diplomatic uncle, on a quest to get over an unhappy love affair she soon finds herself falling into another.The Ginger Griffin combines romance and adventure during the times when expatriates and diplomats enjoyed privileged and cosseted lives in the Far East.