Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize
A thirty-four-year-old American woman - a secret agent - is sent to do dirty work in France. "Sadie Smith" operates based on what her "contacts" instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more. Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past. Just as Sadie is certain she's the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.