An Officer And A Spy, Harris - B -

                                                My initial reaction was to pass on this novel, as somewhere along the way I have read extensively about the Dreyfus Affair and didn't feel compelled to review it again..  However, Harris is quite skilled  and I reminded myself of how often  I've learned a great deal from good writers of historical fiction.  In this book, he attempts to hew as closely as possible to the actual story with a few of the novelist's artifices to help him along.  The narrator is a fictional Colonel who takes over the Security Dept. and starts to look into the treason trial and condemnation of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus.   Our fictional Col. Picquart finds a French officer in desperate need of cash visiting the German Embassy in Paris.  It slowly becomes clear to Picquart that that officer, Count Esterhazy, is the traitor to France, and that Dreyfus was framed for being the only Jew on the General Staff.  Indeed, the overwhelming evidence is that being a Jew from now German-controlled Alsace  and being married to a wealthy woman were Dreyfus's greatest offenses.  He was accused of treason and convicted on evidence that didn't reach the level of flimsy.  It was a straight-forward railroading based on bigotry and prejudice. Dreyfus's suffering as the only inmate on Devils Island was quite severe. His correspondence from home was limited, and nightly, he was shackled to his bed.  When Picquart presents his findings to his superiors, he finds himself on an inspection tour in southern France and eventually shunted aside to Tunisia.  Called back to Paris, he is now in the frame. Injustice screams out from every page. I believe Harris spends too much of his time on the mistreatment of Picquart, to the point that he places Dreyfus in a subsidiary position.  The book keeps to the storyline, with the focus, though, on Picquart.  Emile Zola's famous front page newspaper article in a paper owned by future prime Minister Georges Clemencau, 'J Accuse'  leads to the first crack in the edifice created by the French Army.  Although Zola loses the libel suit, enough doubt about Dreyfus's conviction turns up that Dreyfus is afforded another trial.  He is convicted again but amnestied soon thereafter.  Dreyfus was later completely exonerated and restored to the Army.  The chasm the Dreyfus Affair created between the right and left in French politics are generally conceded to be a significant turning point in early 20th century French history.