Paul Christopher

The novel's protagonist, Paul wonders about the suspicious death of his father, Hubbard Christopher, but with less obsession than Hubbard decades earlier seeks to find his wife, Lori. His aristocratic, German mother, wants Paul to be a poet but feared that he will be a warrior. Following his father's death, Paul follows him into the spy trade, joining the super-secretive U.S. intelligence agency called The Outfit. Throughout his career he is linked with Hubbard's lieutenant, Barnabas "Barney" Wolkowicz, a man he loves his whole life.

Paul is born in Berwick on Rügen Island in the Baltic Sea, at about the time of his parents' marriage. He grows up in Berlin with summers spent reading and sailing at Berwick. It is often remarked that he looks like his mother but has his father's personality. Paul is briefly educated at a French school in Switzerland. When the...