Dead Ground

Bloomsbury presents Dead Ground by Graham Hurley, read by Alix Dunmore.

A young British nurse experiences the devastating Spanish Civil War and the dark side of the espionage game in this gripping World War Two thriller from Graham Hurley.

1936. Anglo-Breton translator Annie Wrenne is working in Madrid when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. Annie becomes a nurse on the front line, but after falling in love with a patient, she ends up pregnant – and abandoned – by a man she thought she knew.

Annie passes the rest of the war in a haze, her only consolation her relationship with mysterious Republican fighter Carlos Ortega. Annie finds herself caught up in Ortega’s world, a web of intrigue, which leads to her recruitment into MI5.

On her first mission, Annie must pose as Ortega's wife and head to Algeciras. Hitler’s Operation Felix – his plan to control the Mediterranean and force Churchill to the negotiating table – has been set into motion, and the 'couple' must help prevent the Nazis from seizing Gibraltar.

But Ortega has secretly been working for the Nationalists, part of Madrid’s Fifth Column. If it falls to Annie – and Ortega – to save the day for the Allied cause, can she trust a man who has changed sides yet again?

From award-winning author Graham Hurley, the latest thrilling instalment in the Spoils of War Collection, a non-chronological series of novels set during World War II and featuring some of the most momentous stories and figures of the era.