Publication Date: October 6, 2026
THE BOOK THIEF meets JOHN LE CARRÉ How do you stay human inside a regime built to erase you? Berlin, 1932. Germany’ s fragile democracy is fracturing, its ideals cracking like thin glass as political violence and paranoia seep into the streets. In the midst of this tension, Rudi, a young Foreign Ministry official, meets Sara, an unpredictable, morally fierce Jewish woman whose connection with him is immediate and combustible. By 1943, the Germany they knew has vanished, and Rudi works at the center of Nazi power, performing his duties by day and passing intelligence to the Allies by night— until Sara’ s unexpected return threatens to unravel the life he has carefully constructed to survive. FORTUNE AND GLASS is a philosophical spy novel and literary love story about private choices, secret resistance, and the cost of staying human inside a system determined to erase individuality. Lyrical, atmospheric, and morally complex, it explores the gray zones of living under authoritarianism and asks a timeless question: Who are you when everything falls apart? FORTUNE AND GLASS is not a conventional WWII novel but a literary love story braided through a psychological spy narrative— an intimate exploration of identity, conscience, and quiet resistance inside a society sliding into extremism. Positioned at the crossroads of literary fiction, psychological suspense, and historical storytelling, the novel explores how ordinary people navigate love, loyalty, and moral responsibility inside systems that reward silence and punish dissent— questions that feel as urgent now as they did then. Lyrical, emotionally rich, and philosophically resonant, it turns away from spectacle and heroics to focus on the private cost of survival. For readers who believe they’ ve read every WWII novel, FORTUNE AND GLASS offers something rare: a deeply human story that restores the genre by shifting the lens inward, toward the moral choices that define us when history fractures beneath our feet. For readers of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, THE NIGHTINGALE, THE BOOK THIEF, THE ALICE NETWORK, and the espionage of John le CarrÉ and FORTUNE AND GLASS blends intimacy, danger, and moral complexity into a WWII story that feels both timeless and urgent.
From their first meeting, something about Sara resonates deeply in Rudi’s heart. Eleven years later, he is in danger of risking everything to save her.
Told in dual storylines in 1932 and 1943, author John Mutter delivers an espionage thriller packed with forbidden romance in Fortune and Glass.
As a Foreign Ministry official, Rudi secretly detests the Germany that has devolved under Hitler’s leadership. The story picks up with Rudi returning from a mission to get Sara safely out of Germany, an effort that proves to have an exciting twist.
Loving the Jewish woman is doubly forbidden for Rudi since he already has a family. She brings him such incredible happiness that he can’t possibly send her away.
In a tumultuous time, Rudi and Sara capture moments of fragile happiness. Together, they explore the idea of life after the war. The author captures a unique aspect featuring a couple trying to regain a sense of normalcy in light of increasing Nazi restrictions.
Fortune and Glass provides an unexpected peek inside war-torn Germany as two people do what they can to hasten the war’s end and their own inevitable future.
John Mutter is a journalist who covers the book world and is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Shelf Awareness, the online company with publications for booksellers, librarians, and book lovers. He earlier was an editor for more than 20 years at Publishers Weekly. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied for a year in Germany. He has long been interested in history, literature, language, and politics. A resident of various points in the Northeast, including New York City, he now lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with his family. Fortune and Glass is his debut novel.
