NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Paris, 1938. As the shadow of war darkens Europe, democratic forces on the Continent struggle against fascism and communism, while in Spain the war has already begun. Alan Furst, whom Vince Flynn has called “the most talented espionage novelist of our generation,” now gives us a taut, suspenseful, romantic, and richly rendered novel of spies and secret operatives in Paris and New York, in Warsaw and Odessa, on the eve of World War II. Cristián Ferrar, a brilliant and handsome Spanish émigré, is a lawyer in the Paris office of a prestigious international law firm. Ferrar is approached by the embassy of the Spanish Republic and asked to help a clandestine agency trying desperately to supply weapons to the Republic's beleaguered army an effort that puts his life at risk in the battle against fascism. Joining Ferrar in this mission is a group of unlikely men and women: idealists and gangsters, arms traders and aristocrats and spies. From shady Paris nightclubs to white-shoe New York law firms, from brothels in Istanbul to the dockyards of Poland, Ferrar and his allies battle the secret agents of Hitler and Franco. And what allies they are: there's Max de Lyon, a former arms merchant now hunted by the Gestapo; the Marquesa Maria Cristina, a beautiful aristocrat with a taste for danger; and the Macedonian Stavros, who grew up “fighting Bulgarian bandits. After that, being a gangster was easy.” Then there is Eileen Moore, the American woman Ferrar could never forget. In Midnight in Europe, Alan Furst paints a spellbinding portrait of a continent marching into a nightmare and the heroes and heroines who fought back against the darkness. Praise for Midnight in Europe “A lovely book. With Midnight in Europe, Alan Furst delivers an observant, sexy, and thrilling tale set in the outskirts of World War II, when Europe grew dark and ordinary men and women found themselves compelled to fight for righteous principles. In Furst's hands, Paris once again comes alive with intrigue. A dark time, yes, but also one that is endlessly compelling.” Erik Larson “Suspenseful and sophisticated . . . No espionage author, it seems, is better at summoning the shifting moods and emotional atmosphere of Europe before the start of World War II than Alan Furst. . . . Part of the allure of this exciting and moving novel is the way in which it shows Ferrar and other citizens persisting in their usual activities in the face of extraordinary circumstances.”The Wall Street Journal “Tantalizing . . . intricately plotted . . . too much fun to put down . . . a master of the atmospheric thriller . . . Furst vividly re-creates an era that brought pain and consequence to nearly every civilian in every country, even those peripherally involved. . . . It was novelist Alan Furst who taught me the meaning of world war. The Boston Globe “Furst is a master at creating the ominous prelude to destruction.” BBC “[Furst] has yet to write an unalluring spy novel . . . Even his version of Christmas shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue sounds ominous and erotically charged.” The New York Times “Sophistication and gentility once again travel hand-in-glove with ruthlessness and spying in Alan Furst's thirteenth historic espionage novel.” Shelf Awareness From the Hardcover edition

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