Silence in the Desert is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Four young people are caught up on opposing sides, yet bound to one another by pre-war friendship, and new found love. Henri's family sends a son from each generation to military college for a commission into the French Foreign Legion. As he fulfils this tradition and the Second World War breaks out, Henri is faced with a dilemma which will lead to an adventure few could match in that conflict. Leo is set on joining Goering's new Luftwaffe, but his war leads him into the secret world of Signals Intelligence. The suspension of the moral law in time of turmoil raises issues which he struggles to reconcile with his conscience and the ethics of his upbringing. Bill is South African, a talented young rugby player at the same school as Henri and Leo, and heads for Cambridge on an RAF scholarship. His ultimate test comes from a least expected direction and a woman who has already suffered terribly. Elisabeth's home was Munich until her father becomes a professor at the Pasteur Institute, and she starts her own medical training in Paris. Her crucial decision to return to Germany clashes with the circumstances of her family and the legacy of its past. Alone and threatened, Elisabeth escapes to the deserts of North Africa and to the man who will change her life.