"The government would be wise to tell the truth and, if a sufficient emergency arises, to tell one big, thumping lie that will then be believed." Extract from a secret internal memorandum on the workings of the United Kingdom war-time Emergency Powers Act. Based entirely on true accounts of disinformation projects in London and Paris, this extraordinary novel addresses the dilemma of the "justified sacrifice" in times of war. Shifting between a fearful London and a fatally compromised France, SOE agents Alex and Justine, are caught up in the liberation of Paris. They are destined to discover the ultimate human cost of the "official lie" - a secret so grotesque that, even now, it is judged best forgotten.