by Geoffrey Household, 1939
Enthralling short novel about a talented spy who gets caught seeing if it would be possible for him to assassinate an evil dictator. He escapes after a fall from a cliff, and the suspense begins. He is badly injured but makes his way out of this country, which may be Poland, and into the English countryside with his adversary hot on his heels. A very entertaining novel. We do not know his name but the spy is very likable, ingenious, talented, smart; it’s captivating to be with him as he escapes, hides, escapes again, and eventually conquers his foe. It was a recommendation from the ‘book-a-day’ calendar Christie gave me. Here are just a few of the quotes I liked:
It is the hour of the outlawed, the persecuted, the damned, for no man was ever born who could not feel some shade of hope if he were in open country with the sun about to rise.
On page 23, when he is looking about at dawn for a person he could trust to help him escape, and settles on a fisherman.
In all history has any man become a Christian because he was convinced by the Athanasian creed? But how many millions have been convinced by the life of a single saint!
From page 144 where he is talking about how he felt when this evil dictator murdered the love of his life.