Occupied Paris, 1941. Jean Casson lives under an assumed identity after the failure of his earlier intelligence work. Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union changes the politics of occupation: French communists, previously constrained by the Nazi–Soviet pact, are ordered into active resistance and need weapons, money and contacts that can connect isolated underground groups.
Casson is drawn into negotiations between communist organisers and other resistance elements while German reprisals make every operation costly. Moving through cafés, safe rooms and black-market networks, he must decide whether survival without commitment is still possible. The novel examines the divided beginnings of armed resistance and the pressure that occupation places on political rivals who share an enemy but not a common programme.
Jacqueline Winspear
20 books
James R. Benn
26 books