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The Alpine tunnel is closed, so two men ignore their orders and head for the St. Bernard Pass, taking them to Italy . . . Later, they learn that if they had obeyed orders, they would have been ambushed.Stephen Mitchell and Dan Burke are British agents assigned to keep an eye on a scientist suspected of intentions to defect, but in the obscure way of bureaucracy, they have little in common with one another. In the appalling heat encountered along with their unwary quarry at Lake Maggiore, their differences begin to flare into open hostility.And then Miriam appears, whether irrelevantly or by design, who can tell? The fact remains that Mitchell had known her in Berlin, where she had wanted his help with a problem of her own. Drawn to her in a way inexplicable even to himself, Mitchell becomes ever more deeply involved in Miriam's dilemma until the idea takes root that there is a way to help. The trouble is, the method entails betraying everything for which he stands . . .

Born in in London in 1921, Mary was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Girls School, Acton. During the Second World War she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (Wrens) attached to the Fleet Air Arm Meteorology branch and then briefly with the Signal Section in Plymouth. Writing was in her blood. Juggling her work as a local government officer in Middlesex Education Department with writing, at first short stories for magazines and pieces for The Times Educational Supplement, she then had her first book, The Winter City, published in 1961. The book was a success and enabled Mary to relinquish her full time occupation to devote her time to writing. Even so, when she came to her beloved Lewes in 1961, she still took a part-time appointment, as a secretary, with the East Sussex Educational Psychology department. Long before family sagas had become cult viewing, she had embarked upon the 'Fairley Family' trilogy - Good Daughters, Indifferent Heroes, and Welcome Strangers - books which give her readers a faithful, realistic and uncompromising portrayal of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times, between the years of 1933 and 1946. For many years she was an active member of the 'Monday Lit', a Lewes-based group which brought in current writers and poets to speak about their work. Equally, she was an enthusiastic supporter of Lewes Little Theatre, where she found her role as 'prompter' the most satisfying, and worshipped at the town's St Pancras RC Church.

Mary Hocking has been compared with the early Graham Greene ... she has the same fluency and readability Sunday Telegraph Spying is no game in Miss Hocking's very adult story ... She deals in real people with real emotions ... I found her book tense and moving Irish Times Miss Hocking has an admirable gift for narrative ... continuously exciting ... very well written ... The Times This is Miss Hocking's best yet ... Times Literary Supplement