A realistic portrayal of the complications of life for Russian emigres in the inter war years as the threat of Nazism looms and the fear of Communism colours the approach of society to them.
Into this mix comes Frederick Troy who has decided not to go to Oxford University but after a spell as a reporter on his father's newspapers he has chosen to join the police. It is in the weeks running up to his beginning his life as a police cadet that he is introduced to two people who will affect his later career - one is Harold Macmillan and the other more dubious introduction is to Guy Burgess. This is particularly vexing as Burgess seems to have formed an attachment to him to the extent that Troy's father has to warn him that Burgess is a Soviet agent.
You want to keep reading to see how things develop during 1935 and later in Troy's career when he comes across Burgess again.
Into this mix comes Frederick Troy who has decided not to go to Oxford University but after a spell as a reporter on his father's newspapers he has chosen to join the police. It is in the weeks running up to his beginning his life as a police cadet that he is introduced to two people who will affect his later career - one is Harold Macmillan and the other more dubious introduction is to Guy Burgess. This is particularly vexing as Burgess seems to have formed an attachment to him to the extent that Troy's father has to warn him that Burgess is a Soviet agent.
You want to keep reading to see how things develop during 1935 and later in Troy's career when he comes across Burgess again.