Dictator's Muse

Early 1930s Germany is a place of mounting dread. Under Hitler's tightening hold on power, Berlin is readying itself to host the Olympic Games, and the rest of Europe watches with unease. Leni Riefenstahl, the leading filmmaker of the Third Reich and known for her open approach to sexuality, has been handpicked by Hitler to record the Games on film. Soon she learns that even his closest circle has reason to be afraid.

Kim Newlands is an English athlete whose training is backed by the Blackshirts. He is devoted to Connie, a socialite whose moods shift quickly, and his ambition is an Olympic gold medal. Reaching it means playing a part and pretending to be someone he is not. Alun Pryce, a Welsh communist sent to infiltrate the Blackshirts, befriends Kim and Connie, and his conviction that the ends justify the means is put to its hardest test.

Leni controls her camera and her memoirs, which gives her the power to shape how events are remembered when the lives of these characters converge at the Games. Some moments from her past are cut from the final version, but the novel suggests that discarded footage is not gone for good.

The author's earlier novel, The Blasphemer, was a bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and chosen as a Richard & Judy Book Club pick.