内容简介：
The story unfolds when a frustrated Irishman serving in the British Army is wounded while in France during WWI. Back in England recovering, Bill encounters a new lifelong friend and embraces a short romance with a female Army medical officer. His saga continues in a secret mission to Russia where he escapes the Bolsheviks and obtains crown jewels belonging to Czar Nicholas. After losing the jewels in a shipwreck off the coast of France, he finds himself in Canada. Bootlegging along the Canadian border during Prohibition adds danger and intrigue. WWII interrupts this adventure, but leads him on a path to recover the crown jewels. Adventures involve war, romance, intrigue and death. Brief narrative descriptions and moving dialogue combine excitement with laughter and sorrow. Thirteen steps are significant in the trenches of France, again in a Russian romance and finally in a decision of life and death.