An Officer and a Spy

An Officer and a Spy (2013) by Robert Harris is a fictionalized account of the real-life story of the Dreyfus Affair of the late nineteenth century. It won the Walter Scott Prize and the American Library in Paris Book Award in 2014. A French-language film version began filming in November of 2018.

The book begins in 1895, when Albert Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer in the French military is given a life sentence at Devil’s Island prison. Dreyfus, who has been convicted of treason and passing military secrets to the Germans, is stripped of his rank in a public ceremony, witnessed by Georges Picquart, a spy who has recently become the head of the counterespionage agency that convicted Dreyfus.

Georges does not approve of humiliating Albert with the ceremony, but he is totally convinced of Albert’s guilt. However, his girlfriend idly remarks that if Lieutenant–Colonel Armand Du Paty had anything to do with the case, then Albert is surely innocent. This remark sows a seed of doubt in George’s mind, alerting him to the fact that some people suspect corruption in his organization.



After this, Georges reflects on Devil’s Island, where Albert is being housed. This island has been set aside as a private prison with only one occupant, and Georges recognizes that Albert’s imprisonment is just as much of a show as the ceremony in which he was stripped of his rank. He wonders why so much money is being spent to staff and maintain Devil’s Island.

In the early part of the novel, large sections of the narrative are dedicated to Georges’s social and professional life. As a civil servant, he does not make much money, and so, he is eager to accept invitations to dinner parties to get a free meal. A bachelor, he begins several affairs with women in rapid succession. At work, he has to contend with coworkers who are jealous of his recent promotion, though Georges is a very adept manager.

Georges eventually finds a letter implicating army officer Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy in the treason charges for which Albert was convicted. He also learns that false evidence was created to make Albert appear guilty instead. Georges presents the information to his superiors, but they refuse to reopen the case, leading Georges to think that they may have been complicit in framing Albert.



Around the same time, Albert’s supporters begin a newspaper campaign to get the evidence against him dismissed. Confident that he has some support, Georges begins a covert spying campaign to build evidence against Ferdinand. He secures damning evidence, such as photographs of Ferdinand entering and leaving the German embassy. He also talks his way into the section’s archives and finds a folder of evidence passed secretly to the judge in Albert’s case. As he reviews the folder, Georges realizes that he was the one who illegally carried the evidence to the judge.

It is only at this point that Harris reveals that Georges knew Albert before he was convicted. Albert’s instructor and mentor at the Ministry of Counterintelligence, he remembers that Albert was unpopular with many of the others. Georges reflects that Albert’s unpopularity coupled with being Jewish probably led to him being an easy scapegoat during the trial.

By comparing writing on trial documents, Georges realizes that one of his junior officers, Hubert-Joseph Henry, is responsible for forging the evidence against Albert. He comes to realize that many of the people he works closely with were part of the conspiracy; he is not sure whom he can trust. He begins to lose favor at work as he refuses to drop the case of the Dreyfus Affair.



Georges receives several more damning pieces of evidence, including a coded message in which the Germans say that they do not know who Albert is. However, he is still not allowed to appeal Albert’s conviction, because it will implicate many top-level military officials. Meanwhile, he learns from Albert’s letters that his treatment at Devil’s Island is becoming increasingly more brutal, and he suspects that the military is trying to kill Albert to put an end to the matter. Finally, Georges’s superiors send him to a new post in Tunisia to get him out of the way.

Georges decides to present his evidence to the newspapers. He sneaks back to France to do so, publishing accounts of what he has found. The military immediately launches an investigation against Georges, and he is convicted of forging some of the evidence found against Ferdinand.

Georges is forced out of the army and imprisoned in Paris. However, the movement to appeal Albert’s case has gained momentum, and the Supreme Court agrees to retry Albert in public this time. Eventually, Albert is exonerated, along with Georges, who is allowed to rejoin the army at a higher rank than before.