Undercover writer

Ashenden by Somerset Maugham

When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham’s own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.

This is a great set of interlinked stories which draw on Maugham’s own spying experiences. There is a lot to like in here with some darker incidents and some really surprising happenings. The most bizarre of these, involving an American and his laundry during the early days of the Russian revolution, is pretty extraordinary.

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Rating: 4 out of 5.