The Queen & the Spymaster tells the story of the unlikely champions of Ancient Persia and of a thousand-year vendetta that presages modern historical events in Iran and Afghanistan. Readers are transported to the exotic fortress city of Susa, the imperial palace, and the royal harem, where truth wears a mask. Rapoport meticulously describes a royal court populated by an intricate shadow-world of spies and informants—a sinister brotherhood with orders to draw a target on the king's back; rival cabinet ministers who command private armies; an orphaned girl with a gift for languages and an innate political intuition; a queen who, unbeknownst to all, is a secret agent; and the shrewd tactician who controls her.