A novel of intrigue set in Berlin during the tense months prior to World War II. Cathleen O'Dea, an Irish American film star, uses her flirtatious relationship with Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, in a desperate attempt to trace her Jewish mother. Cathleen's story is seen through the jealous eyes of Sean Carmody, the one-time boy hero of the author's The Sundowners, the boy from the Australian bush who has lost his innocence amidst the politics and ambitions of Nazi Germany.