Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution

Silas Deane was a successful Connecticut merchant and a member of the Continental Congress who in 1776 was sent to France to persuade the king to support the colonists in their struggle with Britain. Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a successful inventor and playwright who had access to the arms and ammunition that Deane and the Continental Army desperately needed. And the Chevalier d'Eon was a diplomat and sometime spy for the French king who ignited a crisis that persuaded the French to arm the Americans. These three were at the heart of a monumental power struggle between Britain and France, with the outcome of the War of American Independence hanging in the balance. An edge-of-your-seat story, full of fascinating characters, lavish with period detail and sense of place, Unlikely Allies is history in all its juicy glory.