It may be said that the book has a double benefit for the reader: apart from vivid emotions, it gives him an invaluable insight into history, revealing some unknown facts. The novel takes place in Berlin; the Cold War is in an embryonic state. Can you imagine that British and Americans came up with the idea to build a tunnel, linking American and Soviet sectors to get access to Russian communication system? Apparently, they wanted to excel themselves in order to achieve the goal. But as it usually happens common people become pawns in big games. Leonard Marnham is a protagonist, who does not have the slightest suspicion of the fact that he is involved into the top-secret operation. He is a naïve 25-year-old technician, who merely does his job: he has to repair tape recorders in the tunnel. The love always knocks at your heart unexpectedly when you do not wait for it. That happens to the main character – he falls in love with German divorcee Maria Eckdorf, who is five years older than him.
