Parlous Times: A Novel of Modern Diplomacy

The plot centers on diplomatic intrigue around a negotiated treaty and a conspiracy to secure a reluctant participant through bribery. A legation secretary becomes personally involved when a distressed woman seeks assistance, setting off clandestine missions, midnight messages, and delicate social manoeuvres. The narrative shifts between official procedure, private confession, and perilous secrets, unfolding a sequence of commissions, moral compromises, and confrontations that force reckonings over love, knowledge, silence, and deception, and culminates in consequences both legal and personal.