Ashenden (1928)

Throughout the first World War, acclaimed novelist W. Somerset Maugham worked for British Intelligence in Switzerland. Under cover as a writer, Maugham used his knowledge of travel, languages and culture to great effect, infiltrating high society and common folk alike in his job of greasing the wheels of espionage. A decade later, Maugham fictionalized his experiences in this book, a pseudo-autobiographical account of his time on the continent. Brimming with intrigue and colourful supporting characters, the linked stories of "Ashenden" are skillfully controlled narrative glimpses of war-time spycraft by a figure who's been there and done it.

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