An Officer and a Spy: A novel

Robert Harris

Jan 2014 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER 

A whistle-blower.  A witch hunt. A cover-up. Secret tribunals, out-of-control intelligence agencies, and government corruption. Welcome to 1890s Paris.
 
Alfred Dreyfus has been convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment on a far-off island, and publicly stripped of his rank. Among the witnesses to his humiliation is Georges Picquart, an ambitious military officer who believes in Dreyfus's guilt as staunchly as any member of the public. But when he is promoted to head of the French counter-espionage agency, Picquart finds evidence that a spy still remains at large in the military—indicating that Dreyfus is innocent. As evidence of the most malignant deceit mounts and spirals inexorably toward the uppermost levels of government, Picquart is compelled to question not only the case against Dreyfus but also his most deeply held beliefs about his country, and about himself. 

Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction
Winner of the American Library in Paris Book Award

Ratings and reviews

Very thoughtfully researched and well put together. Harris does a remarkable job of keeping the reader engaged with historical facts that most would think was fiction. As in the case against Alfred Dreyfuss and co. Never assume.

Many readers labor with digesting the lessons of history factually presented in a straight forward dry historical presentation. This author has skillfully presented an important historical lesson to us in a riveting entertaining format while maintaining historical fact.

Dramatic, moving, and educational to boot - this was one of only three or four novels this year I read straight through with hardly a pause.

About the author

Robert Harris is the author of eight best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, and The Fear Index. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, which was directed by Roman Polanski. Harris’s work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, West Berkshire, with his wife, Gill Hornby.