Americans Eleanor and Talbot meet in Florence just after World War II—Eleanor came to Italy to study sculpture in 1939 and got stuck when war broke out, and Talbot was there as part of a U.S. intelligence group within the U.S. Army. They eventually marry and move to Washington, D.C., where Talbot joins the CIA and Eleanor, unable to find work in the art world, settles for a job in the Arlington Public Library system. Fifteen years later, distance has grown between them, and while Eleanor turns a blind eye to Talbot’s numerous affairs, the cracks in their seemingly idyllic life start to show. On the night of Eleanor’s 40th birthday party, an operation led by Talbot goes badly awry when a surveillance plane is shot down over the Soviet Union just weeks before Eisenhower and Khrushchev are scheduled to have peace talks. Talbot’s extramarital activities come back to haunt him, and a foundational plot twist midway through the novel completely shifts the narrative that readers thought they were following, to great effect. Amid the political intrigue, Norsworthy ensures the story’s focus remains on Eleanor and Talbot’s relationship; chapters written from both of their perspectives deepen the context of their relationship and add to the emotional stakes. The real-life events serving as a backdrop for the story are thoroughly researched, and the robust cast of supporting characters is brought to life in a vividly rendered historical setting (“Anxiety was high that the Soviets had more missiles and were building bombers so fast the United States would never catch up”). The narrative occasionally drags in the second half of the book, over-emphasizing the logistics of various aspects of spycraft employed by the CIA and the USSR, but overall, the pacing works effectively to keep readers invested and to take Talbot and Eleanor through realistic inner journeys as they contemplate the future of their marriage.
