The Forests of the Night the war as it really was, as James Kirkup observed, an "acid portrait of those who played at being members of the [French] Resistance". The novel's theme and title come from the opening lines to William Blake's poem "The Tyger": "Tiger, tiger, burning bright - in the forests of the night." "The Forests of the Night" was translated in 1951 into English by Nora Wydenbruck; it has not been re-printed since. Francis is the son of the Comte de Balansun, whose family resides in the French town of Saint-Clar, near the Pyrenees. Francis, in the beginning of the novel, skips
HMS Tyger 1741 "Tyger" was assigned to blockade duty off the western tip of Cuba, under the command of Captain Edward Herbert. He had learned from the captured crew of a small Cuban sailing vessel (a "periagua") that Spanish ships were preparing to sail in both directions between Havana, Cuba and Vera Cruz, Mexico. Early in 1742, anxious to capture a valuable prize, Captain Herbert left his assigned station to move closer to the expected path of the shipping between Havana and Vera Cruz. On 11 January, the "Tyger" approached low-lying islands. The officers became confused, first correctly identifying the islands as