This is the story of Alfred Dreyfus, an officer in the French Army who, in 1894, was falsely accused of treason and sent to Devil's Island. Dreyfus was a Jew, which explains - at least in part - why he fell foul of the justice system in France.
 
Robert Harris never fails to amaze me. I have devoured all but one of his novels as well as his non-fiction "Selling Hitler". What amazes me most is his scholarship, his capacity for hard work and attention to detail, and his literary prowess. Historical fiction comes in various flavours: on a spectrum from fictionalised pure history to pure fiction set against a historical background. We might also include many works of pure fantasy that contain vestiges of historical echoes. As a work of alternative history, Fatherland sits at the fantastical end of the spectrum; An Officer and a Spy sits firmly at the other end. This is pure historical journalism imbued with fiction to bring the story to life for the modern reader. The book is a triumph.

10/10