A riveting prequel to the WWII espionage series featuring British agent Rosie Ewing, in this "meticulously researched war novel" (Len Deighton) . Late autumn, 1942: A group codenamed Countryman are briefed by London to get a certain German out of Vichy's hands. What they don't know is that they are being sold out to the Gestapo. Of course, they are constantly aware of betrayal as a looming danger. All too many SOE networks have been blown, with agents disappearing into the Gestapo cellars and extermination camps: the dread every agent lives with every minute of every day. In amongst them is Rosie Ewing, about to start a series of extraordinary life-or-death adventures . . . Praise for the writing of Alexander Fullerton: "The research is unimpeachable." — The Sunday Times "The tension rarely slackens and the setting is completely convincing." — The Times Literary Supplement