"[Purgatori replies that he wrote a spy novel for many reasons, the first being:] because, having met many spies from the East, the West and many other countries over many years of work, I also wanted to portray their human side, which is very different from what we imagine. They are women and men like us, and like us they experience emotions, feelings, joys and sorrows, and it is curious, shall we say, that they have to live them, in a way, in the shadows. Even if sometimes these feelings then undermine the carefully planned projects that are supposed to change the world order."