Art student Eleanor has been trapped in fascist Italy since 1939, forced into hiding, camouflaging her identity. At war's end, she meets intelligence officer Talbot who's captivated by her story, her intellect, and her beauty. He believes he can free her of her pervasive melancholy over all the war forced her to abandon. They marry and move to Washington DC, where he joins the fledgling CIA and she struggles to find her footing in a city with a rhythm and artistic sensibility so unlike lyrical Florence. As Talbot rises in the CIA, their marriage frays and he seeks attention from the string of young secretaries assigned to work for him. He blames his infidelity on Eleanor—her remote nature, her disinterest in him. But when a mission he oversees—the flight of a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union—fails horribly, his unsavory conduct is exposed, putting his career and freedom in jeopardy. AS his life unravels, Eleanor has a choice to make that may require her to reveal explosive secrets of her own.

From 2025 Georgia Author of the Year nominee Pamela Norsworthy comes heart-pounding historical fiction that interweaves the story of a teetering marriage and the infamous U-2 incident that redefined the stakes of the Cold War.