In 1939, in the interstice between the Great War and another brewing storm, Dr. Francesca Thomas has an important mission for Maisie Dobbs--to find the murderer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy 23 years ago. Meanwhile, another mystery lies right at her front door in the form of a young, immigrant girl named Anna who cannot, or at least will not, speak.

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times-bestselling Maisie Dobbs series. Her standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was also a New York Times bestseller and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.

Maureen Corrigan of NPR's Fresh Air says, Maisie Dobbs is "a female investigator every bit as brainy and battle-hardened as Lisbeth Salander."