I bought this first British edition hardback from 1960 (first published in the USA in 1959) a few years ago for my movie collection as I really enjoyed the movie adaptation starring James Garner and Julie Andrews. The dust jacket says:

"In this vastly entertaining novel Jim Madison (Lieutenant-Commander James Monroe Madison, U.S.N.R.) continues the exceedingly private memoirs that he bagan in THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER.

The scene now is wartime London where Madison is aide to the Admiral, and his assignment is to supply all that is required to keep the diplomatic wheels turning for his superiors - the thickest steaks, the prettiest girls, the best liquor. The Admiral was famous for his provate dinner parties. To quote the great man himself: 'From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; that's when we win the wars, gentlemen.'

The girls were recruited from the ranks of a driving pool of Englishwomen organised by a rich, hard-boiled American, Sloane Sinclair. The girls were popularly known as "Sloan's Sluts" and theoretically their duty was to drive the big cars of the 'top brass' of the American Navy.

The 'Americanization' of these ladies was an essential part of Madison's job and he was notoriously successful - except with Emily Barham.

Madison assumed that Emily, too, was willing to engage in the wartime barter, to trade herself for a pretty dress and an evening of gaiety that would help her forget the present and remember the past. But he soon discovered that Emily shared neither the fortunes of war nor his own cynicism. His conquest of Emily was his biggest challenge.

This is a sizzling story of wartime romance in a war waged from hotel suites of fantastic top-level extravagance charged up 'to the poor taxpayer in America'.

Amid all the amoral conniving and high living of this lively tale there is withal a tender love theme and, additionally, one of the most vivid and moving descriptions of the Normandy landings ever put into a novel.

For the sophisticated here is a book that sparkles on every page."

I also found out today a bit more about the author, and I was surprised about his credentials.

"William Bradford Huie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Bradford "Bill" Huie (November 13, 1910 – November 22, 1986) was an American journalist, editor, publisher and author.

Born in Hartselle, Alabama, Huie graduated from the University of Alabama in 1930 after which he went to work for a Birmingham newspaper.

He served as an officer with the United States Navy's Seabees during World War II, after which he returned to journalism. He began writing novels and nonfiction works that dealt primarily with the War. He turned his attention to the civil rights movement in books examining the death of Emmett Till and an investigation of Klan activities in Alabama. His articles about the murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were combined to form a 1964 book titled "Three Lives For Mississippi". When he published "The Klansman" in 1967, Huie received death threats and a cross burning occurred on the front lawn of his home. Mainstream journalists criticized Huie for employing checkbook journalism. He did not apologize for that, saying he gathered information in civil rights investigations the same way the FBI did--he paid informants. In "He Slew The Dreamer," Huie concluded that James Earl Ray was responsible for the murder of Martin Luther King, and that he acted alone.

Five of his works were made into motion pictures, plus he wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed 1961 film drama The Outsider, directed by Delbert Mann and starring Tony Curtis as Native-American WWII hero Ira Hayes. His book "The Execution of Private Slovik," an account on the only WWII G-I executed for desertion, was made into a TV movie starring Martin Sheen.

William Bradford Huie died in 1986 in Guntersville, Alabama.

Bibliography

Fiction
Mud on the Stars (1942) - (1960 film, "Wild River")
The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1951) - (1956 film)
Wolf Whistle and Other Stories (1959)
The Americanization of Emily (1959) - (1964 film)
The Hero of Iwo Jima and Other Stories (1962)
Hotel Mamie Stover (1963)
The Klansman (1967) - (1974 film)
In the Hours of the Night (1975)

Nonfiction
The Fight for Air Power (1942)
Seabee Roads to Victory (1944)
Can Do!: The Story of the Seabees (1944)
From Omaha to Okinawa: The Story of the Seabees (1945)
The Case against the Admirals: Why We Must Have a Unified Command (1946)
The Execution of Private Slovik (1954) - (1974 film)
The Hiroshima Pilot: The Case of Major Claude Eatherly (1964)
Three Lives for Mississippi (1965)
He Slew the Dreamer: My Search with James Earl Ray for the Truth about the Murder of Martin Luther King (1970)
A New Life To Live: Jimmy Putnam's Story (editor 1977)
It's Me O Lord! (1979)
The Ray of Hope (1984)
To Live and Die in Dixie (1985)"