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.