Edward Bell's mother had left the Soviet Union thirty years before - a political firebrand, a troublemaker. She worked as an interpreter, and to begin with she'd tried hard to be English. She'd kept her accent in check, been friendly with other mothers at Edward's school.

When the Berlin Wall comes down, the dirt, the scandals and the treachery from 40 years of Communist rule begin to seep into the open. James Martin, long-term British agent planted in the East, suddenly finds himself alone and hunted, at the very time when he should be safe back home. But in the new Berlin old values and old hatreds still dominate. And Martin must retrace his past and relive a powerful and obsessive relationship, if he is to survive at all.