• Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction
• Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize 2017
• Sunday Express Book of the Month

Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance...

Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art.

Reviews

'Skilful . . . daring . . . extraordinary' — The Guardian

'A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years' — Ian Rankin

'Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good' — Daily Mail

'Marvellous, spare, moving' — Francis Spufford

'Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic’ — The Irish Times