London, February 1941, and Emilia Shaw is about to begin a new job. But this is no ordinary job and this is not London as the world knows it. 

Britain has been invaded by the Germans, the capital scarred by swastika flags and blood-red victory banners while Gestapo informers lurk around every corner. Emilia’s new boss is SS General Oskar Voigt, the most powerful man in occupied Britain, a man who arrives with a reputation for ruthlessness and a single aim: to cow the population. 

Emilia has been recruited by the fledgling English resistance and she realises with terrifying rapidity that she has been catapulted into the very eye of the occupation storm. Also working in the beating heart of the occupation is Irish policeman Brendan O’Connor, General Voigt’s security chief, who operates alongside the brutal SS Colonel Hans Morser in the relentless drive to eliminate the resistance. O’Connor has been seconded from Scotland Yard, and his loyalties are ambiguous at best. 

Emilia soon becomes the target of his suspicions, while also attracting the watchful eye of the vicious Morser. She is wary of her increasing proximity to her SS boss, a man of beguiling charm — and a disturbing penchant for brutal reprisals. 

The occupation regime has also invited the Duke of Windsor back to England, promising him the crown. The quisling government orchestrates a campaign to sell the would-be king and his unpopular American wife to the English people, unleashing a wave of violence from the resistance which brands him a traitor. A delicate dance of politics set against the backdrop of resistance sabotage now plays out as the Duke increasingly pressures the government to schedule his coronation while Hitler, the supreme kingmaker, prevaricates. 

As the violence escalates, Emilia is hunted by both the SS and the resistance, caught in the crossfire as the country threatens to implode. Ultimately, it is the ill-judged German invasion of Russia that spells doom to the occupation and precipitates a savage and bloody battle for liberation. 

But even the bitter post-liberation reckoning could be dwarfed by a constitutional crisis which threatens the very foundations of the country, a crisis that can only be resolved by one man — the most unlikely of them all.