"With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan's The Continental Affair is a daring cat-and-mouse game that is as surprising as it is satisfying. Meet Louise and Henri. Two strangers, traveling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul. Except this isn't the first time they have met. Louise is running--from her past, from the shady people she has stolen money from, and from Henri, the person sent to collect it. Her journey takes her from her native London to Spain, France, and the seductive Baltics. Henri, disillusioned after a stint in the gendarmerie, leaves his native Algeria for Spain, where he hoped to find a brighter life. Instead, he gets wrapped up in his aunt's criminal organization, running errands and doing odd-jobs, no questions asked. He soon realizes that Louise is no ordinary mark. She leads him across the continent on a journey he did not anticipate--and one from which he finds himself unable to turn away"--