[Xanthe Schneider Enigma 02] • The Athens Assignment

**England, 1941. And the battleship Bismarck is about to set sail.**

Undercover agent Xanthe Schneider has returned to England, following her mission in Berlin, with vital information… and a baby growing inside her.

In the months that lead up to the birth, Xanthe occupies herself with work and regular visits to Bletchley Park, but this does little to take her mind off her sense of isolation, caused by a father who doesn’t respond to her letters, a lover who turned out to be a traitor and being five thousand miles from her home in Cincinnati.

Following the birth, she decides that her duty as a mother must take priority. The baby needs her, and nothing will make her return to the field.

But the British military has other ideas…

It is not long before Xanthe finds herself on another mission, one which, if successful, will use Enigma code to pinpoint the missing battleship and save many lives.

This story offers an insight into the German invasions of Greece, and the desperate struggle to find and destroy the Bismarck. It is the sequel to bestselling *The Berlin Affair* but can be read as an page-turning stand-alone.

A must-read for fans of Robert Harris, David Downing and Alan Furst.

Praise for David Boyle

‘Authentic and compelling... Boyle captures the paranoia and peril of the era.’ Roger Moorhouse, author of *Berlin at War*

‘ *The Berlin Affair* is the first book in what I'm sure will prove to be a gripping series... For fans of Alan Furst and Robert Harris.’ - Richard Foreman, author of *A Hero of our Time*

‘Exhilarating’ - *Daily Mail*

‘A book that is engagingly sensitive’ Dominic Lawson, *Sunday Times*

**David Boyle** is a British author and journalist who writes mainly about history and new ideas in economics, money, business and culture. He lives in Crystal Palace, London. His books include *Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma, Before Enigma, Operation Primrose, Rupert Brooke: England’s Last Patriot, Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Jerusalem: England’s National Anthem, Unheard Unseen: Warfare in the Dardanelles, Towards the Setting Sun: The Race for America and The Age to Come.*