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The astonishing true story of two First World War prisoners who pulled off one of the most ingenious escapes of all time.
About the author
A winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, Margalit Fox trained as a linguist and was a senior writer at The New York Times. As a former member of the newspaper's celebrated Obituary News Department, she wrote the front-page public sendoffs of some of the leading cultural figures of our age. She has written three previous books, Conan Doyle for the Defence, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, and Talking Hands, and lives in Manhattan with her husband, the writer and critic George Robinson.
Summary
Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during the First World War, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, cunningly join forces. To stave off boredom, Jones makes a handmade Ouija board and holds fake séances for fellow prisoners. One day, an Ottoman official approaches him with a query: could Jones contact the spirits to find a vast treasure rumoured to be buried nearby? Jones, a lawyer, and Hill, a magician, use the Ouija board - and their keen understanding of the psychology of deception-to build a trap for their captors that will lead them to freedom.
The Confidence Men is a nonfiction thriller featuring strategy, mortal danger and even high farce - and chronicles a profound but unlikely friendship.
Foreword
The astonishing true story of two World War I prisoners who pulled off one of the most ingenious escapes of all time.
