Irish-American Maggie O’Dea is bright, beautiful and resourceful—and she hates the English! It’s the summer of 1938 and Maggie is studying in Heidelberg when she meets the dashing Kurt Engel, a German soldier. Maggie agrees to follow Kurt to Berlin provided he helps her find a job. And what a job! Maggie lands a position as assistant to Clive Barnes, an obese and often intoxicated Englishman known over the airwaves as ‘Lord Lyon.’ Barnes broadcasts Nazi propaganda to his homeland each evening. After Kurt is deployed, Maggie spends more time at work, growing closer to her colleague Dieter Schmidt.
Erich Greinke is an American who’s been fighting alongside the Germans in Spain’s civil war. He’s recruited by WWI hero ‘Wild’ Bill Donovan to report on developments in the German capital. Erich quickly identifies Maggie as an opportunity to penetrate Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ inner circle. As Europe plunges into the abyss of world war, Maggie begins to question the guidance she receives from the Ministry and begins to realize she has fallen victim to the very propaganda she has helped create.
Caught between her conscience and the Gestapo’s tightening noose, Maggie walks a deadly tight-rope as she navigates between love and loyalty, survival and discovery.
“Quick-thinking Maggie is a fully fleshed character who comes across as an auburn-haired Linda Darnell… Her credible transformation from full-fledged believer in the German right of conquest to supporter of the Allies is handled with finesse… There’s chemistry aplenty in the wisecracking banter ... well written … offers a lesson in history for those in need of a refresher”.
Kirkus Reviews
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