Robert Walker
IN 1950s AMERICA, YOUR PRINCIPLES ARE A LIABILITY. YOUR FRIENDS ARE A WEAPON. AND LOYALTY IS A CURRENCY PAID IN BETRAYAL.For Clara Goldstein, a sharp-witted Hollywood screenwriter at the top of her game, the price of a thriving career is a single, forgotten act of compassion: a five-dollar donation to help refugee children made thirteen years ago. Now, the architects of the blacklist have her name on their list and offer a devil’s bargain: cooperate, name names, and reclaim the life they’ve stolen from her. Refuse, and be erased forever. Three thousand miles away, at Princeton University, esteemed economist Dr. Martin Ashworth faces his own inquisition. His crime? Believing that academic freedom includes teaching objective facts, even when those facts are politically inconvenient. Pressured by an administration terrified of controversy and a family desperate to maintain their social standing, Martin must choose between his life’s work and his family’s future. As their separate worlds collapse under the weight of institutional paranoia and organized fear, Clara and Martin are pushed to the breaking point , hunted by government watchers and abandoned by friends who choose safety over solidarity. In a nation consumed by a political fever, what is the true price of integrity? And when survival requires you to become someone you can’t recognize in the mirror, what part of yourself is actually worth saving?
