They met during the London blitz. Pandora was a small-part actress in a hit musical; Stani, half Polish and half American, found himself alone in England - his father back with his troops in Poland, his mother trapped in France by Hitler's advance.

Love affairs in those days were feverish. Pandora said war is an aphrodisiac and certainly they did not allow bombs to distract them nor even such major complications as Stani - now in the RAF - being seriously wounded while on Catafighter service, or Pandora (who proves to be an Earl's daughter) having to go on an ENSA tour to Burma.

By the time the war is over, Pandora, always professionally ambitious, has got herself a Hollywood film contract, to learn that a theatre of war is not the only place where in-fighting can be tough.

After the huge success of his autobiographical The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses, David Niven now turns to fiction. In Pandora and Stani he has created a wonderfully attractive, totally credible pair of young lovers. Their story moves to many parts of the world - Germany, Poland, Mexico, Greece and the Spice Islands besides England and the United States and David Niven views their startling adventures with the same infectious charm and effortless light touch which made his two previous books immediate and lasting international best-sellers.