Paul Peach is unhappy with his life as a train conductor, a
theater actor and a husband. He is also fully aware that
his wife, Elsie, is extremely unhappy with her current
situation. One evening, while punching tickets during the
train trip between Milwaukee and Chicago, Paul notices a
soldier and his girlfriend holding hands; and he makes a
decision that will change the course of his life.
Paul writes a letter to his wife giving her the freedom he
wants her to have and begins his life as a soldier. Then he
gets an opportunity to assume another man's identity, which
leads to a love he never thought possible.
This book is satisfactory for a very quick read; however,
the characters are a bit boring. And I felt if the plot had
been more fleshed out, it wouldn't have been so
anticlimactic.
The beloved actor and screenwriter’s first novel, set
during World War I, delicately and elegantly explores a
most unusual romance. It’s almost the end of the war and
Paul Peachy, a young railway employee and amateur actor in
Milwaukee, realizes his marriage is one-sided. He enlists,
and ships off to France. Peachy instantly realizes how out
of his depth he is—and never more so than when he is
captured. Risking everything, Peachy—who as a child of
immigrants speaks German—makes the reckless decision to
impersonate one of the enemy’s most famous spies.
As the urbane and accomplished spy Harry Stroller, Peachy
has access to a world he could never have known existed—a
world of sumptuous living, world-weary men, and available
women. But when one of those women—Annie, a young,
beautiful and wary courtesan—turns out to be more than she
seems, Peachy’s life is transformed forever.