A half-starved young Russian man is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa...Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. In pursuit of his mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

Annabel, Issa and Brue form an unlikely alliance and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the 'War on Terror,' the rival spies of Germany, England and America converge upon the innocents.

John le Carré was born in 1931 and taught at Eton. He spent five years in the British Foreign Service and many of his bestselling novels have been recorded as Chivers Audiobooks, including The Mission Song, Absolute Friends, The Honourable Schoolboy, The Constant Gardener and Our Game.

Michael Jayston is a highly-regarded actor, having appeared in numerous films, among them Cromwell, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Zulu Dawn and Nicholas and Alexandra. His many TV credits include The Royal, Doctors, Emmerdale, Murder in Suburbia and Only Fools and Horses, while on stage he has been seen in Henry V and Hamlet for the RSC, as well as Private Lives and The Rivals.