The Riddle of the Sands
by Erskine Childers · first published 1903
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2recommended by
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2018–2026first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Childers's lone masterpiece, THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS, considered the first modern spy thriller, is recognisable as the brilliant forerunner of the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carre. Its unique flavour comes from its fine characterization,richly authentic background of inshore sailing and vivid evocation of the late 1890s - an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and intrigue that was soon to lead to war.
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Erskine Childers' "The Riddle of the Sands", an analysis of German naval ambitions pre-WWI masquerading as a tense work of fiction. Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World". Slocum does that. George Ade, any of his works: he was the…
on “Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?” ↗…authorial voice combining fiction and historical figures, but the characters have only brief moments on the stage. The excellent narrator Patrick Tull of the A-M series lead me to: Childers, Erskine, “The Riddle of the Sands” (1903), the archetype of the modern spy novel—with sailing! So you want to post your find to the community? Maybe you have retained a trace of the author’s voice? So you bring your new books to the…
on “GenRec: Towards LLM-Native Recommendation at Netflix” ↗