Ashenden, or, The British Agent - Hardcover

William Somerset Maugham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0891902139 ISBN 13: 9780891902133

Publisher: Amereon Ltd, 1940

Synopsis

This fascinating book contains probably the most expert stories of espionage ever written. For a period of time after it was first published, the book became official required reading for persons entering the British Secret Service.

During World War I, Maugham enlisted with an ambulance unit, but was soon shifted to the Intelligence Department. Although these stories were based on the author's own experiences as a British agent during the war, he emphasized that they were written purely as entertainment, at which, indeed, Ashenden succeeds. Maugham's clarity of style, the perfection of his form, the subtlety of his thought, veiled thinly behind a worldly cynicism, has made him an international figure.

About this title

Review:

"The most persuasive espionage fiction" (New York Times)

"The first spy story written by someone who had been there and done that. A humane and compassionate antidote to two-fisted, square-jawed heroes battling dastardly foreigners. The head of British Intelligence is known only as "R", anticipating James Bond's "M" by a quarter of a century" (The Times)

"Thoughtful spy novels began with Somerset Maugham's Ashenden, featuring a detached hero on a journey to disillusion, a process brought to its apotheosis by le Carre via Greene" (Daily Telegraph)

"A collection of stories so accurate that Churchill ordered the destruction of 14 of them, while Russian intelligence immediately set up a special unit to read British spy novels for clues" (New Statesman)

Book Description:

Maugham's set of stories about his wartime spy John Ashenden, who prefigured James Bond with his exploits with exotic enemies and exotic women

About this edition

• Publisher: Amereon Ltd
• Publication date: 1940
• ISBN 10: 0891902139
• ISBN 13: 9780891902133
• Binding: Hardcover