'Incorporating many of the finest elements of spy thrillers... a fascinating tale of and homage to the resistance fighters and members of the SOE' New York Journal of Books

'Masterly . . . A tour de force that grips and never lets go' Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday

Half French, half British, Marian Sutro has always been an outsider. But after being recruited by SOE to go undercover, it seems her hybrid status - and fluent French - will be put to good use. Marian finds herself parachuting into south-west France, having been trained in sabotage, how to perform under interrogation and how to kill.

Her real destination, however, is Paris, where she must seek out old family friend Clément Pelletier, a nuclear physicist of urgent significance to her superiors. As she struggles through the lethal landscape of the Occupation towards this reunion, she realises that war changes everything, and neither love nor fatherland may be trusted.

'I read late into the night and cried a little when I was done. Mawer's set pieces are so beautiful you want to read them two or three times over. He writes about fear and about bravery better than any contemporary novelist I know' Rachel Cooke, Observer

'Such rewarding reading . . . Mawer is a genuinely great contemporary writer' Simon Schama, Financial Times

'Marian's story is unforgettable' Spectator

If you only read one book this year, read this one