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The Exile

The Exile

Summary

'An espionage story of high literary calibre' Strong Words Magazine
'A dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal' Guardian
'A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment’ Mail on Sunday
'In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist' Sunday Times
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It's 1951 and the servants of Stalin are closing in on the occupied nations of eastern Europe. As the Red Army tightens the net, Greta - best and bravest of freedom fighters - is told to escape to the West and undertake a dangerous mission.

Greta's task is to find a missing girl: the precious daughter of a partisan general who was sent into exile in the final days of the war.

But the so-called Free World is no place for vulnerable young refugees. Europe is in ruins, the old Empires are dying, and a spectacular cast of spivs, gangsters and rival intelligence agencies are fighting over the scraps.

Crossing the Iron Curtain will require nerves of steel as Greta faces down the French mob, ex-Nazis, Soviet spies, all the glamour and temptation of Paris and ultimately, her own demons.

The Exile is a white-knuckle ride into the black heart of postwar Europe - a terrifying world in which allies and enemies are impossible to tell apart.
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Praise for The Partisan

'Fast-paced, intriguing and deeply atmospheric'
Tom Bradby
'Remarkedly assured debut ... the advent of a real talent...One to watch' Sunday Times
'Impressive ... The scene-setting is finely detailed and evocative, the characters skilfully drawn' Financial Times
'Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre' Lee Child

Reviews

  • Worrall wonderfully conjures the maelstrom of postwar France... a dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal
    Guardian

About the author

Patrick Worrall

Patrick Worrall was educated at a comprehensive school in Worcestershire and King’s College, Cambridge. He has worked as a teacher in eastern Europe and Asia, a newspaper journalist, a court reporter at the Old Bailey, and the head of the Channel 4 News FactCheck blog. His first novel, The Partisan, was inspired by a World War Two photograph of three young female freedom fighters he saw in a museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Exile is his second novel.
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