'David Kerr, dux of his graduation year at the University of Cape Town is the last 'English' (speaking) appointee to the Diplomatic Service. The extremist Afrikaner 'Apartheid' Party has just gained power - and is determined on revenge against their 'English' compatriots for grievances going back to the Anglo/Boer war at the turn of the century.
'He receives an unexpected immediate transfer to the Washington Embassy, and foolishly, rushes into marriage with a local Afrikaner girl, only to be devastated on his wedding night when rejected by his bride of a few hours. With no time to clarify the issue, the couple board a luxury liner for the journey to America. Arriving in Washington, David finds he is engages on two fronts.
'The Afrikaner administrators in Pretoria are resolved to purify the 'Service' of foreign 'English' influence, and obstruct his career at every stage. Incredibly, by his conventional standards, his wife persists in rejecting him, and eventually he finds consolation elsewhere.
'The wars of attrition at home and office continue against a background of the diplomatic privileges and extraterritoriality of Foreign Service life: Washington's glamorous social circle; Presidential receptions at the White House; and the daily Protocol, Consular, Cypher and Administrative duties at the embassy.' (Back cover).
