New English Library Limited

CHAPTER ONE As a diplomat I have a good record. In his valedictory letter the President called it. 'a distmguished and meritorious career, the sum of whose service represents a great profit to the United States of America'. I was able to accept the compliment with some irony but with confidence...

1 January 1969 In January, New York takes on the sullen aspect of a brooding empress, her massive frame wrapped in stark steel gray, her cold glass façade brittle and hurtful to the touch. Icy ruts pockmark her face, with black beauty-spots of soot emphasizing its ugliness. Like some...