Ashenden, Or: The British AgentAshenden: The British Agent is founded on Maugham's experiences in the English Intelligence Department during World War I, but rearranged for the purposes of fiction. This fascinating book contains 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 secret service. The plot follows the imaginary John Ashenden who during World War I is a spy for British Intelligence. He is sent first to Geneva and later to Russia. Instead of one story from start to finish, the chapters contain individual stories involving many different characters. All of the people whom Ashenden meets during his travels have their own reason for being involved in the spy game, and each are more complex than they first look. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 16
Page 5
... France in order to write and dispatch a report . A day or two before , about five in the afternoon , an Indian agent of his had come to see him in his rooms ; it was only by a lucky chance that he was in , for he had no appointment with ...
... France in order to write and dispatch a report . A day or two before , about five in the afternoon , an Indian agent of his had come to see him in his rooms ; it was only by a lucky chance that he was in , for he had no appointment with ...
Page 8
... France once a week to deliver his reports and to receive instruc- tions - he had always a faint sense of trepidation when he stood among the crowd at the gangway and waited to land . There was nothing on his passport to show that he had ...
... France once a week to deliver his reports and to receive instruc- tions - he had always a faint sense of trepidation when he stood among the crowd at the gangway and waited to land . There was nothing on his passport to show that he had ...
Page 128
... France , it was thought desirable to attract atten- tion to Ashenden as little as possible , an agent from the police - station came to see him . His name was Felix . He was a little dark Frenchman with sharp eyes and an unshaven chin ...
... France , it was thought desirable to attract atten- tion to Ashenden as little as possible , an agent from the police - station came to see him . His name was Felix . He was a little dark Frenchman with sharp eyes and an unshaven chin ...
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Common terms and phrases
agent Alix ambassador Anastasia Alexandrovna answer Ashen Ashenden felt Ashenden knew Ashenden looked Ashenden saw Ashenden thought asked Ashenden baroness bassador Bolsheviks Brindisi Byring Caypor chance Chandra Colonel course cried Delilah detective dine dinner door enden English everything eyes face Fafner feeling fellow fool France Fritzi gave Geneva German Giulia give glance Gustav Hairless Mexican hand Harrington head heart Herbert Witherspoon Holzminden hour humour lake laughed Lausanne Lazzari letter Lucerne married Mexican opened mind Miss King Monsieur morning neutral country never night notion O'Malley once opened Paris passport Petrograd play round Russian scrambled eggs seemed shoulders shrugged Sir Herbert sitting smile Somerville stood story Swiss Switzerland talk tell there's thing Thonon tion told took train turned Vladimir wait walked watched wife woman wondered word write