THE war may be over in 1953 but deep in the vast plains of south-west
France, a new kind of conflict is stirring up unrest and violence. As the United States of America and Soviet Russia battle for
nuclear dominance, secrets, lies and rival allegiances become more deadly by
the day, and one farming family faces being torn apart forever.
Historical novelist Kate Furnivall, author of eleven powerful
books, including last year’s gritty, gut-wrenching The Survivors, explores some
of the peripheral tensions in the 20th century’s notorious nuclear
arms race in a brilliant, beautifully observed and suspense-packed tale of
espionage, deceit, daring and courage.
Furnivall, who was inspired to write her first book, The
Russian Concubine, when she discovered the story of her grandmother – a White
Russian refugee who fled to China from the Bolsheviks – has become the queen of
thrilling adventure stories, harnessing romance, danger and episodes of fascinating
real history using both her knowledge and her imaginative prowess.
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| FAST-PACED NOVEL: Kate Furnivall |
In The Guardian of Lies, she casts her keen eye over the
Camargue area of France in the Cold War era as one determined young woman sets
out to discover who betrayed her beloved brother, and finds herself caught up
in a perilous web of lies that makes her question her own family’s loyalties.
In 1953, the fragile peace between the West and Soviet
Russia hangs on a knife edge as 23-year-old Eloïse Caussade leaves her home on a
large bull farm near Arles in the Camargue to follow André, the older brother
she has always idolised. André, six years her senior, has become an
intelligence officer, working for the CIA in Paris to help protect France from
the Communist threat.
Exchanging the strict confines of her widower father’s farm
for freedom in Paris, Eloïse’s world comes alive almost overnight. Resourceful
and intelligent, she soon finds work as a detective with a private
investigation agency owned by Clarisse Favre, a classy Parisian woman ‘as sharp
as a razor or as soft as her Dior powder puff.’ But Eloïse’s hopes and dreams fall apart when André is
seriously hurt in an accident which she believes happened as a result of her
own decisions and actions.
Unable to work, André returns to their father’s farm where he grows increasingly morose, and Eloïse, weighed down by a sense of guilt and responsibility for his injuries, decides to find the man she believes tried to kill her brother.
Unable to work, André returns to their father’s farm where he grows increasingly morose, and Eloïse, weighed down by a sense of guilt and responsibility for his injuries, decides to find the man she believes tried to kill her brother.
But when Eloïse returns to the farm, she finds her home town
in a state of turmoil. Those who are angry at the construction of an American
airbase nearby, with its lethal nuclear armaments, confront those who support
it, and anger flares into violence, stirred up by Soviet agents.
Click here for Lancashire Post review
Click here for Lancashire Post review
Throughout all this discordance, Eloïse learns who she can
and can’t trust, and finds an unexpected ally in Andre’s childhood friend and
local police captain, Léon Roussel. But just who is working for Soviet
Intelligence and who is not, and on which side do her family’s loyalties really
lie?
Furnivall knows how to reel in her readers and this
compelling story, which moves from the contrasting bright lights and shadowy
corners of 1950s Paris to the humid heat, cypress trees and vineyards of the Rhône
delta, is brimming with mystery, intrigue and spine-tingling suspense.
This is an author adept at capturing not just the history and geography of a place but its people, its culture, and its social and political affairs. The volatility of two sparring superpowers, each eager to establish its pre-eminence and each offering conflicting ideals and loyalties to the war-battered French, is superbly portrayed.
Into this threatening maelstrom of unrest and anger steps
the smart, fearless and forthright Eloïse, a complex, caring young woman driven
by both her conscience and her strong family fidelties to undertake a mission
that is littered with menace and misinformation.
Her burgeoning relationship with Léon, the dedicated police
captain with an appealing down-to-earth wisdom and sense of honour, is one of
the highlights of this fast-paced, all-encompassing adventure.
Authentic, exciting, and well-researched, The Guardian of
Lies shines a spotlight on a rarely uncovered corner of Cold War history.
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £8.99)
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