A Wartime Marriage, aka Flight from Bucharest, by Mary Jane Staples

Captain Harry Phillips, a British officer, is a prisoner of war in a German-controlled hospital in Romania. It’s 1918 and while Germany has gone from near-victory to an unsuccessful Spring Offensive on the Western Front leading to eventual defeat, its army and military intelligence are still feared. Harry is recovering from being shot in the thigh but has been treated well, so is not worried when he is summoned to meet with the German officer in charge of the hospital, Captain Carlsen.

Captain Carlsen has a very unexpected plan: he will help Harry escape back to England if Harry agrees to take Princess Irina of Moldavia with him. The Princess is pro-German and has angered Romanian extremists who are determined to try her for treason. Captain Carlsen admires the Princess and fears for her life when the German army leaves Romania. He asks Harry to agree to marry the Princess on the understanding the marriage would be annulled once she is safe in England. Harry is engaged to Elisabeth, a childhood friend, but once he meets the Princess, who is beautiful, willful, and charming, he agrees to this undertaking.

The escape plan goes wrong from the beginning when someone is waiting for them at their getaway taxi. Harry’s ingenuity gets them to Chitila, then a train to Belgrade. Their journey is difficult and dangerous, as they are pursued by enemies and arouse suspicion, with the Princess posing as a war widow and Harry as a Russian. Her headstrong behavior infuriates Harry but he admires her spirit and determination. Their adventures include a perilous train ride to Zagreb, a kidnapping, another to Trieste. Will they be able to elude their pursuers? Will they make to England? And what about Elisabeth, waiting patiently at home for Harry?

This was a delightful, fast-paced book with appealing characters and several twists. When Croatian rebels try to seize the train going to Zagreb, Harry is forced to improvise and figure out how to drive the train to avoid capture, and the Princess shows her courage when they are attacked by shooting at the rebels, then by helping to fuel the engine:

In her position on the footplate Irena felt like a woman deceived as Harry muttered and fiddled. What was he doing there at all if he couldn’t drive the thing? And what was she doing here with him? She squeezed the trigger of the German rifle in a spasm of disgust. The bullet ricocheted off the rail into the arm of a Croat. That, she thought, was not bad for a shot aimed in temper, and hitting a man’s arm was better than killing him.

It is probably her bravery under attack that makes Harry realize that his feelings have changed from amused tolerance to deep admiration but he is determined to keep as much distance as he can.  The story is romantic but the drama comes from their perilous journey and knowing that capture would likely mean both their deaths.

This was a five-star read for me. I brought this book home from England in 2017. I have a vague recollection of finding it in a bus shelter on a shelf of second hand paperbacks. It bears a sticker from the Oxfordshire Library Service. Mary Jane Staples is a pseudonym used by British author Reginald Thomas Staples (1911-2005). She/he is best known for a long series about a Cockney family.

Title: A Wartime Marriage (also published as Flight From Bucharest)
Author: Mary Jane Staples
Publication: Corgi, paperback, originally published in 1977
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Personal copy

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2026

• Cloak and Dagger Challenge 2026