My first encounter with Simon Mawer's fiction. It should have been sooner, given the awards he has been nominated for. It won't be the last.
It took a couple of dozen pages to realize that, as it says on the cover, this is 'literary espionage.' In Mawer's case it means an extremely high literary ability with plotting and depth that comes very close to le Carre at his best. For one thing, he is telling his story on two levels: the story of Marian Sutro, who was recruited by the SOE in World War II, and parachuted into France to extract a French scientist needed to work on the A-bomb. Marian chooses not to accompany the scientist on the flight out. Instead she is captured by the Nazis on a railway platform, tortured and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. She survives, returns to England and spends part of her recovery with an Englih family, becoming a source of fascination to their young son Sam. The second story is that of Sam as he investigates Marian's story, becoming personally involved in it, and ultimately tracking her down in her old age.
Marian has become bored after the war and is re-recruited by the same man who originally took her in to the SOE. Now he is operating for an unspecified service. Marian's task is now to persuade her Russian lover to defect. He, meantime, reluctantly recruits her for Russia. The Russians have kompromat on her brother, physicist Ned, and his illegal gay practices.
That gives a flavour of how complex and many-layered the plot is. Mawer also skips back and forth in time, though we never lose track of where and when we are. The characterisation is simply stupendous. Marian is very much the star, the object of everyone else's fascination. She retains her allure and mystery to the end. Even Sam cannot get to the inner essentials of her psyche.
Impressive - and a great read.
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