by William Boyd
First published 2006
Eva Delectorskaya stands at her brother's funeral in 1939 Paris when Lucas Romer appears. This mysterious Englishman knew her murdered brother Kolia and sees potential in the twenty-eight-year-old Eva. Romer recruits her into his spy network and sends her to Scotland for training. After completing a covert mission in Belgium, Eva travels to New York City where she works to manipulate American press coverage and public opinion toward supporting the war effort. Thirty years later, Eva has transformed into Sally Gilmartin, a quiet English widow living in the Cotswolds. Her daughter Ruth knows nothing about her mother's real identity or dangerous past. But Eva's secrets refuse to stay buried. The weight of her hidden life becomes unbearable, and she realizes she cannot face her past alone. She must involve Ruth in confronting the choices that have shaped both their lives.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, espionage
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Belgium, Cotswolds, New York City, Paris, Scotland
Period: 1939, 1960s
324 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury USA
Content warnings: violence