Editions

An Officer and a Spy

An Officer and a Spy

  • Now a Major Motion Picture

IN THE HUNT FOR A SPY, HE EXPOSED A CONSPIRACY

***Winner of the 2014 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction***
***Now a feature film, winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival 2019***

Paris, 1895: an army officer, Georges Picquart, watches a convicted spy, Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of a baying crowd.

Dreyfus is exiled for life to Devil's Island; Picquart is promoted to run the intelligence unit that tracked him down.

But when Picquart discovers that secrets are still being handed over to the Germans, he is drawn into a dangerous labyrinth of deceit and corruption that threatens not just his honour but his life...

A breathtaking historical spy thriller from Robert Harris, author of Munich, Fatherland, The Second Sleep and the acclaimed Cicero trilogy.

Reviews

  • "The fact that this novel is seriously riveting is a testament to Robert Harris's storytelling power; he conjures knuckle-blanching suspense from a very well-known piece of history."

    BOOKS OF THE YEAR, The Times

  • "Harris’ retelling of the Dreyfus case is as taut and exciting as anything by Forsyth or Follet."

    BOOKS OF THE YEAR, Guardian

  • "Menace and suspense twist tight in a narrative of tremendous tension."

    BOOKS OF THE YEAR, Sunday Times

  • "Superb . . . Harris demonstrates his unique ability to recreate historical events and turn them into spellbinding thriller . . . Written with scalpel-like precision and the elegance we expect of Harris, there is a passion here that justifies calling it a masterpiece."

    BOOKS OF THE YEAR, Daily Mail

  • "A brilliant retelling of a scandal that became one of the most famous miscarriages of justice . . . the most gripping book I've read this year."

    BOOKS OF THE YEAR, Mail on Sunday

More from this Author

View all View all
View all View all

About the Author

Robert Harris

Robert Harris is the author of thirteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich and The Second Sleep. Several of his books have been filmed, including The Ghost, which was directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby. His next book, V2, is coming out in autumn 2020.

Robert Harris

Related articles

/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2018/september/life-according-to-cicero-article-960x450.jpg

Features

Robert Harris

What Robert Harris' character Cicero has to say on the big topics, from love and marriage to money and death, in Dictator, the last book of the Cicero series.
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/robert-harris-snippet.jpg

Features

Robert Harris talking about An Officer and a Spy
/content/dam/prh/articles/archive/robert-harris-dictator-trailer-snippet-788x306.jpg

Extracts

Dictator by Robert Harris

Read an extract from Harris' latest novel, an intimate portrait of the brilliant yet flawed Cicero which begins with his exile

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.