The fate of the world rests unexpectedly on the shoulders of that emissary, nineteen-year-old Cornell sophomore Margo Jensen. Pursued by the hawks on both sides, and protected by nothing but her own ingenuity and courage, Margo is drawn ever more deeply into the crossfire as the clock ticks toward World War III.

Stephen L. Carter's gripping novel Back Channel is a brilliant amalgam of fact and fiction--a suspenseful reimagining of the events that became the Cuban Missile Crisis.