Along the way we meet those who have built the house, lived in it and loved it; those who have worked in it, and those who would subvert it to their own ends, including Mrs Trimble, housekeeper to the rackety, spendthrift Mores; the wealthy Henderson family, in their Victorian heyday; six-year-old Pudge; Walter Beckmann, prisoner in its grounds. I didn't want to jump into the latter until I had finished Eng's book [RTC] but I have had Ashenden on my TBR for the longest time, so I read it first. Maugham begins this 1927 novel with a preface explaining “This book is founded on my experiences in the Intelligence Department during the war, but rearranged for the purposes of fiction. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. There was one odd story in which a British ambassador tells Ashenden the story of a youthful love affair, which seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the novel.

Then there are the outlandish characters: the hairless Mexican, a rather unquiet American, a woman acrobat madly in love with a rebel that British Intelligence wants to kill. LONDON — “I had not expected the great sense of peace and clarity of mind that has come with being a Catholic,” says Gavin Ashenden, speaking to the Register May 11. Ugyanakkor Maugham erőssége nem a csűrés-csavarás, hanem a jellemrajz és az erkölcsi konfliktusok ábrázolása, úgyhogy kapunk egészen káprázatosan felskiccelt, komplex szereplőket meg feloldhatatlan morális dilemmákat is, mindezt egy finom, elegáns atmoszférába ágyazva. The book closes with a tragic satire of two types of bourgeois - the Russian liberal and the American businessman - but there is an unusual generosity of spirit here, as if the confusion of the middle classes in a collapsing West had resulted in a strange camaraderie.They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. It tells the story of Ashenden, a beautiful country house, designed and built in the late 18th century, and of the people who own, live or work there over the centuries. While his work is "evidently necessary," there is another side to it that comes with very human consequences, which are played out again and again throughout this novel. This fascinating, and delightful, book is often regarded as the first spy story and a precursor to Smiley and James Bond. A novel about people, architecture and living history, Ashenden is an evocative and allusive reflection on England and its past.

Of all fictitious spy stories, Ashenden's adventures come nearest to the real-life experiences of his creator" (Masters, p. Elizabeth Wilhide's debut novel Ashenden traces the history of an English house across two and a half centuries.The problem is that no amount of good writing, and it is good, makes up for a lack of plotting and not making the reader engage with the characters. The book provided the source material of the 1936 film The Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. On Sunday 22nd of December, the 4th Sunday of Advent, Dr Ashenden was received into the Roman Catholic Church by + Mark Davies at Shrewsbury Cathedral. Harrington, the forthright and foolhardy American seeking business contacts within the new revolutionary Russian government. The messages reflect Maugham’s personal views on everything from love and marriage, personality types, political bigwigs to espionage.

Through a series of interrelated short stories the reader gains an appreciation of Maugham's spying experiences. Every now and then, we find out that this secret agent is not a natural psychopath like 007 but one socially constructed entirely by war and empire. This book was written probably way back in 1927 and it still echoes the colonial British supremacist mindset of the author. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden: Or the British Agent (1927) is the first spy novel written by someone who actually worked for an intelligence agency. Perhaps that is the real virtue of the book - out of conventional, even theatrical, tales of duty, courage and treachery, he teases out an underlying human reality.Ashenden makes it clear that he is not the right man for the job and the Secret Service has sent him purely because no one else is available. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Azt, hogy a hírszerzés afféle lelkes amatőrök vadászterülete, Maugham nem az ujjából szopta – valóban, még a második világháború idején is exhibicionisták, csodabogarak, kalandorok, egyszóval egy válogatott cirkuszi menazséria alkotta a kémek és kettős ügynökök derékhadát. This collection of interconnected short stories is based on the author's time working in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Love and betrayal weave their way through these stories, and while some are a bit on the entertaining side, it is impossible not to be absolutely devastated at the outcomes of a few of the others.