First published 2008
Roald Dahl arrives in Washington as a damaged RAF pilot, his body broken from combat but his mind sharp as ever. The future children's author finds himself recruited into a secret world of espionage, tasked with using his natural charisma to penetrate the elite social circles of Georgetown. Dahl must navigate dinner parties and diplomatic receptions while secretly gathering intelligence and working to sway American opinion toward supporting Britain's war effort. He operates under the guidance of spymaster William Stephenson and finds himself in the orbit of Churchill and Roosevelt themselves. As Dahl deepens his cover among Washington's power brokers, he discovers that the art of influence requires him to blur the lines between friendship and manipulation. The young pilot must balance his genuine patriotic duty with the moral complexities of deception, all while America teeters on the edge of full commitment to the war. This is the story of how one man's charm became a weapon in the shadow war for American hearts and minds.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, world-war-ii, espionage
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, moral-complexity
Setting: Washington, Georgetown, United Kingdom
Period: World War II
393 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster