Imagine you discovered evidence that an innocent man was sentenced to life in prison. Would you try to exonerate him if it would cost you your career?
Georges Picquart, the head of France’s spy agency in 1894, faces this dilemma in An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris’s 2013 historical novel that overwhelmingly remains faithful to the facts of the Dreyfus Affair.
Alfred Dreyfus, the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the French Army, is convicted of spying for Germany in 1895 and sent to Devil’s Island (a bleak, tiny atoll in the Caribbean).
In 1896, Georges Picquart, the new French Army intelligence head, stumbles across a document proving that Dreyfus is innocent, hence revealing that someone else within the French Army spied for Germany.
The remainder of the novel recounts Picquart’s struggles to exonerate Dreyfus, the Army’s attempts to silence the story, the roles of numerous characters, and the ultimate resolution of the conflict.
I loved this book because:
- I like stories with heroes, especially sweet if they survive their trials
- Picquart refuses his Army superiors’ demands in spite of the risk to himself
- Harris’s detailed portrayals of the characters and their motivations
- Characters’ warts show in Harris’s presentation—no one comes across as perfect
- Deep, immersive description of French society in that era
Characters:
Georges Picquart—narrator and protagonist, he’s a French Army officer who is promoted to head of the intelligence department after Dreyfus’s conviction.
Alfred Dreyfus—Jewish Army officer whose performance and grades at the French Military College enabled him to rise higher than any previous soldier of Jewish heritage
General Mercier—French war minister who brought charges against Dreyfus after the discovery that someone in the Army hierarchy had spied for Germany, despite weak evidence
Lucie Dreyfus—wife of Alfred Dreyfus, she works doggedly for years to free her husband
Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy—a dissolute French Army major suspected of treason (by Picquart)
A number of other French Army officers, including generals, play significant roles in this novel, overwhelmingly in support of the honor of the Army and the conviction of Dreyfus, even if this involves a cover-up of the truth, including sentencing an innocent man to a tortuous life imprisonment.
Strengths:
- Thorough, detailed account of the entire story
- Multi-dimensional, complex portrayals of major characters that help explain their decisions, failures, and changes of perspective
Weakness:
The novel’s length, complexity, and repetition of key elements present a challenge to readers
Content review:
This novel contains not only references to romantic liaisons outside of marriage, but depictions of extreme mistreatment and violence.
My recommendation:
I found An Officer and a Spy fascinating, in spite of its length. People in high positions sometimes go to great lengths to preserve their reputations, even if it means innocent people will suffer greatly. This novel offers the author’s in-depth characterization of Picquart’s thought process and his efforts to remain true to his moral code, in spite of the Army’s intense pressure and shocking treatment of himself as well as Dreyfus.
Reader, can you recommend a true-to-life novel in which the protagonist sacrifices so much to bring justice to an individual?