The Dreyfus Affair should an object lesson for school students, as its strange mix of religious prejudice, Franco-German politics, passion, duty, law, justice, journalism and real suffering would open the eyes of many young idealists. This fictionalised account is one of Harris’s best novels as it strips away the conspiracy early on and focuses on the the cost involved in rescuing Dreyfus, and perhaps France, from the appalling circumstances the Affair created.