This is what a Harlequin romance would be if it had an original plot and good writing. The book merges the current life of a Harvard historian with life during the Napoleonic wars at the turn of the 19th century.

The historian has gained access to a private trove of personal papers from an English family with a long lineage. She is trying to uncover the identity of a French spy known only as the Black Tulip. In the meantime, the story focuses on the correspondence between the Pink Carnation (a female English spy embedded in the French court) and Lady Henrietta, a 17-year-old debutante who passes the encoded information on to the English War Office.

Under the guise of meaningless female drivel in the form of social correspondence and endless descriptions of dinners and parties, information is seamlessly passed from France to England. It bypasses the censors who only see the boring details of rich women's meaningless lives. It's really quite cleverly done.

The perfect book for a fevered brain.