‘A novel of inspiring humanity and heartbreaking fallibility … it’s a spy novel, a war story, a love story. It is a brilliant piece of historical fiction’ - Graham Yost, executive producer of The Americans and Slow Horses
Born into an aristocratic German Jewish family, Ernst Baerwald is a gifted linguist, talented musician and fearless idealist. When he’s recruited in 1900 to become a spy – his cover working for a company that would become the notorious chemical conglomerate IG Farben – his life becomes an extraordinary adventure spanning two continents, two world wars and impossible choices that will haunt him forever.
From Frankfurt to Milan to Tokyo, Ernst moves through a world of intrigue and passion. He battles Japan’s Yakuza while entertaining its royalty and hosts Europe’s most brilliant performers. He falls deeply in love. He witnesses the rise of fascism in both Japan and Germany. And when the forces of fascism in Japan meet the horrors of Hitler’s Germany, this German Jew faces an impossible choice: destroy the country he loves most or become complicit in unimaginable evil.
Based on the life of author David Baerwald’s grandfather, The Fire Agent carries us from nineteenth-century German idealism to the onset of chemical warfare; from Japan’s organized crime syndicates to FDR’s spy networks; from the Nanking Massacre to the dawn of the Cold War. At its centre is the unforgettable character of Ernst – a man who has the courage to fight for what’s right, even when the cost is everything.
About the Author :
David Baerwald is a songwriter, musician and film composer who has collaborated with Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, Sheryl Crow, Hans Zimmer and Baz Luhrmann. Baerwald spent a formative part of his childhood in Tokyo and Los Angeles, and currently lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. This is his first novel.
Review :
'Paced like a thriller, written like a dream' - The Boston Globe
'The Fire Agent has it all. This is one of those books that feels like a “book club” novel, but reads like an adventure movie' - Men's Journal
‘A novel of inspiring humanity and heartbreaking fallibility … it’s a spy novel, a war story, a love story. It is a brilliant piece of historical fiction’ - Graham Yost, executive producer of The Americans and Slow Horses
‘From the opening pages of The Fire Agent, we know that we are in the hands of a confident, capable storyteller ... It isn’t easy making a historical novel feel fresh on such well-traveled ground ... this is a wonderfully readable book, and for all the intrigue of Ernst’s spying and his many harrowing moments, its emotional anchor is the love triangle that develops between Ernst, Chizuko and Ursuline, another spy who is sent to serve as Ernst’s wife’ – New York Times
'The Fire Agent is an utterly engrossing novel of espionage, love, and tragedy. From the emergence of industrial science in Germany to the shadowy spy networks of prewar Tokyo and the corridors of American intelligence, David Baerwald brings the secret machinery at the heart of 20th-century geopolitics roaring to life. I absolutely loved it’ - Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds
‘Historical fiction on an epic scale. A page-turner … A remarkable achievement’ - Joseph Kanon, author of Shanghai and The Good German
