Born into an aristocratic German Jewish family, Ernst Baerwald is a gifted linguist, talented musician and fearless idealist. When he's recruited in 1900 to become a spy – his cover working for a company that would become the notorious chemical conglomerate IG Farben – his life becomes an extraordinary adventure spanning two continents, two world wars and impossible choices that will haunt him forever.

From Frankfurt to Milan to Tokyo, Ernst moves through a world of intrigue and passion. He battles Japan's Yakuza while entertaining its royalty and hosts Europe's most brilliant performers. He falls deeply in love. He witnesses the rise of fascism in both Japan and Germany. And when the forces of fascism in Japan meet the horrors of Hitler's Germany, this German Jew faces an impossible choice: destroy the country he loves most or become complicit in unimaginable evil.

Based on the life of author David Baerwald's grandfather, The Fire Agent carries us from nineteenth-century German idealism to the onset of chemical warfare; from Japan's organized crime syndicates to FDR's spy networks; from the Nanking Massacre to the dawn of the Cold War. At its centre is the unforgettable character of Ernst – a man who has the courage to fight for what's right, even when the cost is everything.