Lienz, Austria, June 1945: A British soldier, George Tremayne, witnesses the handover of twenty thousand Cossack men, women and children to the victorious Red Army. Among them is Klara, the woman he loves.
The Cossacks fought for the Nazis during the War and their fate is sealed. Hundreds are summarily executed; the rest are dispatched to the Gulag. An entire people faces oblivion.
However, a year later, Tremayne discovers that Klara was able to escape Soviet vengeance and may still be at liberty. Determined to find her, he enlists the help of an old comrade, Joe Mallory, who was with him at Lienz.
It is a quest that takes both men on a harrowing journey through shell-shocked Europe, where they find themselves unravelling a mystery that threatens to tear their world apart.
Why was the Allied High Command so willing to betray the Cossacks in Lienz and trample on the honour of the British Army?
And why is a shadowy organisation known as Vanguard prepared to go to any lengths to prevent them from discovering the truth?
