In the spring of 1940, Eric Koch was a law student in London. By autumn, he was being held behind barbed wire in Quebec.
Koch was arrested as an enemy alien by the British government and sent to a prison camp in Canada; but he and hundreds of other "dangerous Nazi" prisoners were really refugees--most of them young and Jewish, themselves fleeing from Hitler. In this book Koch recounts the struggles and joys of his Canadian internment, the relief at being spared the horrors of Nazi-occupied Europe, the bitter irony of being confined as a German enemy.
Written with a rare blend of honesty, humour and warmth, Deemed Suspect vividly recreates life in Canada's prison camps during World War Two.

Eric Koch is author of numerous novels, including The Man Who Knew Charlie Chaplin, Icon in Love: A Novel About Goethe, Earrings: Baden-Baden, 1883, and most recently, Arabian Nights, 1914: A Novel about Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Eric Koch's profile page

"A fascinating story told with ... warmth and wit."

Arts National

"Richly spiced with ... gallows humour."

Books in Canada

"Damn fine writing."

Peter C. Newman