Portsmouth: Spies, U-boats, and Romance on the Outer Banks

In 1942, German U-boats operated freely off the coast of North Carolina. That year, two U-boats were sunk off the Outer Banks-the U-85 off Nags Head and the U-352 off Morehead City. In May 1942, the HMS Bedfordshire, a British submarine hunter, was sunk off Ocracoke Island, supposedly killing all men aboard. The bodies of four of the British sailors washed up on the island and were buried at what is now known as the British Cemetery.

In Portsmouth, we follow Kurt Sanger, a German submariner who comes ashore on Portsmouth Island, located just south of Ocracoke. Kurt's assignment is to find out what happened to the U-85 with its Enigma code machine that the Germans did not want to fall into Allied hands. While pretending to be a British officer who survived the sinking of the Bedfordshire, Kurt meets a local girl and falls in love. Through the story of what happens to the couple during and after the war, we learn how wounds heal and how a beautiful place becomes imprinted on the soul.