NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “crackling and intelligent thriller spun from the ill-fated Munich Agreement” (USA Today), two opposing diplomats reunite under the shadow of World War II on a secret mission—from the acclaimed author of Conclave, V2, and Fatherland.
The inspiration for the Netflix film Munich – The Edge of War starring Jeremy Irons
“Meticulously researched and expertly paced. . . . Harris steeps his tale in vivid descriptions of Europe on the brink of conflict.” —The New York Times Book Review
September 1938. Adolf Hitler is determined to invade Czechoslovakia. The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, is desperate to avoid the war that would certainly follow such a move. The city of Munich is to be the site of an eleventh-hour meeting between them—a last-ditch effort to preserve a precarious peace.
Aboard the plane flying Chamberlain to the meeting is Hugh Legat, a rising star of the British diplomatic corps, serving at 10 Downing Street as a private secretary to the prime minister. Aboard the overnight train bringing Hitler to Munich is Paul von Hartmann, a staff member of the German Foreign Ministry.
Legat and Hartmann were close friends at Oxford in the 1920s but have not been in contact for six years. Each of them is carrying the weight of a painful personal secret. Now, as their paths cross in Munich, they will become privy to state secrets that could profoundly affect the very future of Europe. And each will be confronted with a dreadful decision.
