An Officer and a Spy: Now a Major Motion Picture

Robert Harris

Sep 2013 · Random House

About this ebook

***PRE-ORDER THE SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION OF PRECIPICE, THE THRILLING NEW NOVEL FROM ROBERT HARRIS, NOW. PUBLISHING AUGUST 2024, AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE STOCK LASTS AND EXCLUSIVE TO THE FIRST PRINT RUN***

IN THE HUNT FOR A SPY, HE EXPOSED A CONSPIRACY

'Seriously riveting . . . a testament to Robert Harris's storytelling power' The Times

'Taut and exciting' Guardian

Paris, 1895: an army officer, Georges Picquart, watches a convicted spy, Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of a baying crowd.

Dreyfus is exiled for life to Devil's Island; Picquart is promoted to run the intelligence until that tracked him down.

But when Picquart discovers that secrets are still being handed over to the Germans, he is forced to confront the dangerous truth that Dreyfus may be innocent.

Soon Picquart is being drawn into a labyrinth of deceit and corruption that threatens not just his honour but his life . . .

'Menace and suspense twist tight in a narrative of tremendous tension' Sunday Times

Ratings and reviews

fabulous look at a stirring period in French history, an affair that tore the country apart. Harris has written a page turner, not easy to do when dealing with such a well known and documented event, a story whose outcome is known in advance. I'm sorry to have finished it.

While it starts slowly, An Officer and A Spy soon rounds into one of the best historical novels I've read. While most of the dialogue and personal commentary is obviously fictionalized, the novel and the central character certainly ooze with authenticity. What little I do know of the Dreyfus affair is elegantly incorporated into a well-plotted thriller. Highly recommended!

This story has been told many times but never from this perspective to my knowledge. Excellent writing and most gripping.

About the author

Robert Harris is the author of fifteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2 and Act of Oblivion. His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.