Novelist Robert A. Wright gives readers a bold espionage thriller in his debut historical fiction novel, Beyond Ultra, a book that examines the complex relationship between fathers and sons, and what happens to nationalists and hardliners during times of war. World War I gives Karl Hoffman an opportunity to escape his rigid Prussian heritage and create a new life with childhood sweetheart Pilar Ortega. He volunteers for service in Kamerun, a German colony in Africa, just before the war begins, in order to be near Pilar, who's in the adjacent, neutral colony of Spanish Guinea helping her father establish a cocoa plantation. Their love is true, but Fate has much in store for Karl, his new wife, and their families-extended and immediate. As he helps to build a Spanish empire with his wife's family, he becomes estranged from those he left in his native Germany, only to find that reconciliation is what will haunt him. As European tragedies mount, one family member immigrates to the United States, yet Franco's Nationalists plague any semblance of peace, forcing Karl, Pilar, and their three sons to make tough choices. With unforgettable characters, pitch-perfect prose, and a sharp eye for historic details, Wright weaves a truly dynamic tale of loss to show what happens when war leaves men without options.