Editorial Content for Tightrope
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Enigmatic British heroine Marian Sutro is an ex-Special Operations agent who bravely served her country and the Allied forces during World War II. Her exploits were outlined in Simon Mawer's previous novel, TRAPEZE, and now the Man Booker Prize-nominated author continues her story in TIGHTROPE.
Though there are moments that flash back to events that took place during WWII, the bulk of the story is set in the years following the war. As equipped as Marian may have been to battle Axis enemies on the front, she seems lost in conflict between two new rivals: the growing Russian juggernaut at the precipice of the Cold War, and the enemy that exists within her own mind.
"Simon Mawer has skillfully created a work of historical fiction that reads like a thriller, all within the framework of fine literature. TIGHTROPE is another outstanding effort that cements Mawer's hold on WWII-era fiction."
In flashbacks, we see Berlin under siege by Allied forces near the waning days of WWII in 1945. It is here where a bedraggled female seemingly emerges from the rubble. It turns out to be Marian; the only problem is that Special Ops handlers lost track of her two years earlier while she was on mission in Paris.
What transpired in the lost years of 1943-1945 continues to haunt Marian and plays continuous games with her mind and process of recollection. She was indeed a prisoner of war who was subjected to both physical and psychological torture at the hands of the Germans. She was thrown into a concentration camp at Ravensbrück and was only one of a handful of special operatives to survive the war. But at what cost?
In 1945, Marian is back with her parents and later her brother, Ned, in an effort to return to normalcy. As her family attempts to pry into what she endured as a POW, Marian refuses to discuss it, claiming she does not want to be a witness to what happened and would prefer to move on. To add insult to injury, her own superiors graciously recognize her efforts but indicate that they cannot award her any medals since females are not recognized as combatants.
Marian attempts to pick up the pieces, but her own memories and an increasing feeling of guilt will not allow her any peace. The guilt primarily comes from the fact that intelligence she provided during the war may have helped lead to the atomic bombing of Japan by the U.S. When Ned is discussing the newly formed Cold War against the Soviet Union and suggests that a few atom bombs would shake them up, Marian flies into a fit of rage.
Marian marries and tries to move on. Her guilt, though, keeps a strong hold on her as she not only feels remorse over the role she played in the Allied victory but also pines for her lover, who was lost during the war. We get to revisit this in flashback as well, and the depiction is quite poignant.
Simon Mawer has skillfully created a work of historical fiction that reads like a thriller, all within the framework of fine literature. TIGHTROPE is another outstanding effort that cements Mawer's hold on WWII-era fiction.
Teaser
As Allied forces close in on Berlin in spring 1945, a solitary figure emerges from the wreckage that is Germany. It is Marian Sutro, whose existence was last known to her British controllers in autumn 1943 in Paris. Returned to an England she barely knows and a postwar world she doesn’t understand, Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. When the mysterious Major Fawley, the man who hijacked her wartime mission to Paris, draws her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War, she sees a way to make amends for the past and to find the identity that has never been hers.
Promo
As Allied forces close in on Berlin in spring 1945, a solitary figure emerges from the wreckage that is Germany. It is Marian Sutro, whose existence was last known to her British controllers in autumn 1943 in Paris. Returned to an England she barely knows and a postwar world she doesn’t understand, Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. When the mysterious Major Fawley, the man who hijacked her wartime mission to Paris, draws her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War, she sees a way to make amends for the past and to find the identity that has never been hers.
About the Book
From the author of the bestselling and Booker Prize-shortlisted THE GLASS ROOM and TRAPEZE.
An historical thriller that brings back Marian Sutro, ex-Special Operations agent, and traces her romantic and political exploits in post-World War II London, where the Cold War is about to reshape old loyalties.
As Allied forces close in on Berlin in spring 1945, a solitary figure emerges from the wreckage that is Germany. It is Marian Sutro, whose existence was last known to her British controllers in autumn 1943 in Paris. One of a handful of surviving agents of the Special Operations Executive, she has withstood arrest, interrogation, incarceration and the horrors of Ravensbrück concentration camp, but at what cost? Returned to an England she barely knows and a postwar world she doesn’t understand, Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. Family and friends surround her, but she is haunted by her experiences and by the guilt of knowing that her contribution to the war effort helped lead to the monstrosities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the mysterious Major Fawley, the man who hijacked her wartime mission to Paris, emerges from the shadows to draw her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War, she sees a way to make amends for the past and at the same time to find the identity that has never been hers.
A novel of divided loyalties and mixed motives, TIGHTROPE is the complex and enigmatic story of a woman whose search for personal identity and fulfillment leads her to shocking choices.
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