An Officer and a Spy
by Robert Harris
***Winner of the 2014 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction***
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris is a brilliant work of historical fiction based on the real people and events of the Dreyfus affair, which rocked France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and led to one of the most famous newspaper articles ever written, Emile Zola’s “J’Accuse.” This is an important historical event, and Harris’s book is a page-turning way to learn about the awful injustice whereby a French army officer, who happened to be Jewish, was falsely accused of spying for the Germans, spent years in a horrendous prison on Devil’s Island in French Guiana, and even longer clearing his name even after it became obvious he was innocent.
Recommendations from our site
“We’ll start with my favourite book on this list, and that’s Robert Harris, An Officer and a Spy. It’s a retelling of the story of the Dreyfus Affair. It’s fiction, but it’s based on the actual history of the story, and it’s got facts, references to the real ambassadors, generals and diplomats who took part. It tells the story of the Dreyfus Affair from the viewpoint of Georges Picquart, who was the man who investigated it, who was at the time part of the French intelligence service. So the story follows him and his uncovering of the Dreyfus Affair and how people in high places in the French army and government had been actively working against Dreyfus, to protect the honour of the French army, even after the truth came out that he was in fact innocent.” Read more...
The Best History Books for Teenagers
Alex (age 16), Children
