Charlie is a promiscuous, unsuccessful, left-wing English actress in her twenties. She is in search of commitment. But to what, and to whom? We meet her first with a group of acting kids, taking a holiday on the Greek island of Mykonos.

Kurtz is an embattled Israeli immigrant, and an officer of Israeli intelligence. His job is to stop terrorist acts against Jews in Europe.

Michel is the French cover-name for the Palestinian boy who, with his brother, has come to Europe to lift the world by its ears and make it listen to his people’s agony.

Joseph is the name which Charlie and her friends have given to the handsome, solitary bather lying on the beach at Mykonos, who seems to need nothing but a water bottle and his little library of left-wing literature.

Helga is an educated German girl of the middle classes, who believes that only action can speak for ideas.

The Little Drummer Girl is a thrilling, deeply moving and courageous novel.