A 34-year-old American secret agent, alias Sadie Smith, is sent to infiltrate a commune of young eco-activists in rural France but finds herself drawn in by their mentor and his counter-histories…

To be honest, I approached this one with some trepidation - Americans writing about France can be…painful - but I needn’t have worried because I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This was sharp and entertaining, and sure, there were some jibes about the French (and Europe generally), but, as much as I hate to admit it, they were fair and funny.

Everybody is basically a crackpot, including the narrator, who is brash and doesn’t hold back on her opinions, and it’s a lot of fun actually. But don’t mistake fun for silly - Kushner is incisively lampooning a certain type of anarchist/activist. Pointed insights on class and privilege, political machinations and environmental movements abound.

There’s a sizeable chunk of the book dedicated to the mentor’s fascination with Neanderthals - it’s not as overbearing as reviews had led me to believe, and if, like me, you like reading about random stuff you don’t know much about, it’s actually rather interesting to sift through. And it added to the slightly madcap feeling (in a good way) of the whole book.

A sharp, entertaining and pointed story of infiltrating an eco-activist commune undercover and crackpot personalities.