Here is an extraordinary collection of the world’s best literary espionage, selected by Alan Furst, a contemporary master of the genre.
The Book of Spies
brings us the aristocratic intrigues of
The Scarlet Pimpernel,
in which French émigrés duel with Robespierre’s secret service; the savage political realities of the 1930s in Eric Ambler’s classic
A Coffin for Dimitrios
; the ordinary (well, almost) citizens of John le Carré’s
The Russia House
, who are drawn into Cold War spy games; and the 1950s Vietnam of Graham Greene’s
The Quiet American
, with its portrait of American idealism
and
duplicity. Drawing on acknowledged classics and rediscovered treasures,
A Book of Spies
delivers literate entertainment and excitement on every page.