In an aging mansion on the south side of London's Putney Bridge, an old woman confesses a secret to her grandson, just returned home from the battlefields of World War II. Charlotte Stetchworth has always appeared to be a proper Englishwoman, though with a lively background as a suffragette and European traveler. Now, her grandson Freddy learns a sinister secret, that Charlotte and her son Rolly-Freddy's father-were involved in a complex web of spying for the Germans starting in World War I. In this captivating novel by historian and Army veteran Colonel David Fitz-Enz, we follow Rolly throughout the European theater of World War I. Rags, as he is known to friends and colleagues, is assigned to the staff of Major General Avery Hilliard Hopewell, an inspector general for the British Army whose work takes him from the battlefields of France to Alexandria and Gallipoli and beyond. Rags' travels lead him to army hospitals, a mysterious father figure, a beautiful nurse wracked with grief, and Churchill's War Rooms. Along the way, he and Charlotte learn the art of spycraft and use any means necessary to keep their secret. But while Freddy is told his family's covert history, he begins to suspect that Charlotte has just scratched the surface. Beginning his own investigation, Freddy learns that there is much more to discover about the spy on Putney Bridge.
David Fitz-Enz wrote Why a Soldier? and was a US Army officer for thirty years.
Preface and Acknowledgments Note to the Reader Cast of Characters Timeline Maps PART I: CODE (1945) Chapter OneLondon, Just Prior to Christmas, 1945 Chapter TwoRegensburg, Germany, and Yorkshire, 1898 Chapter ThreeLondon, 1898-1910 Chapter FourCharterhouse and Putney, 1910-1914 Chapter FivePutney, 1914-1915 Chapter SixPutney, Lakenheath, and Horse Guards, February-March 1915 Chapter SevenPutney Bridge, April-May 1915 PART II: PLAINTEXT (1915-1918) Chapter EightLondon, May 1915 Chapter NineLambeth Bridge, 1915 Chapter TenHorse Guards, 1915 Chapter ElevenThe White Swan and Woolwich, 1915 Chapter TwelveMediterranean, Late June 1915 Chapter ThirteenGallipoli, Mid-July 1915 Chapter FourteenGallipoli, July-August 1915 Chapter FifteenGallipoli, August 1915 Chapter SixteenAlexandria and Rome, August 1915 Chapter SeventeenRome, August 1915 Chapter EighteenRome, August 1915, and London, September 1915 Chapter NineteenLondon, September 1915 Chapter TwentyHorse Guards, September 1915 Chapter Twenty-OneHorse Guards, September 1915 Chapter Twenty-TwoHorse Guards, September 1915 Chapter Twenty-ThreeLondon, Early October 1915 Chapter Twenty-FourLondon and Calais, Early October 1915 Chapter Twenty-FiveLoos, Early October 1915 Chapter Twenty-SixChateau Chenonceau, October 1915 Chapter Twenty-SevenThe Channel and London, October 1915 Chapter Twenty-EightFrance, March-August 1916 Chapter Twenty-NineLondon, September 1916 Chapter Thirty London, October 1916 Chapter Thirty-OneEurope, 1918-1920 Chapter Thirty-TwoLondon, 1921 PART III: TRANSMISSION (1936-1944) Chapter Thirty-ThreeLondon and Newmarket, 1936 Chapter Thirty-FourFort Belvedere and Germany, 1936 Chapter Thirty-FiveThe Eagle's Nest and Sweden, 1936 Chapter Thirty-SixEurope, 1937-1940 Chapter Thirty-SevenLondon, 1940-1941 Chapter Thirty-EightLondon, 1942-1943 Chapter Thirty-NineLondon, 1944 PART IV: KEY (1945) Chapter FortyLondon, Just After Christmas, 1945 Chapter Forty-OnePutney Bridge Afterword About the Author
