Acts of Allegiance

For readers of The Goldfinch and classic le Carré, a propulsive tale of espionage, betrayal, loyalty, and love—during the time of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Marty Ransom, son of the Captain and heir to a hilltop estate near Waterford in independent Ireland, lives a comfortable, boring life with his tennis-playing, Anglican wife, Sugar, and a job in the Department of External Affairs. Among their closest friends are an Anglo-Irish couple, a banker who was Sugar's childhood flame and his alluring diplomat wife, Alison. But Marty is a man divided. While his father fought with the British Army and found respectability in marriage, Marty's closest childhood friend was his cousin Iggy, the rebel son of a working-class Irish patriot whose gift for tinkering with radio parts has grown into a bomb maker's skill. When Marty is lured into keeping tabs on the growing IRA activities in support of the Catholic North, he finds himself walking a tightrope...