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Title details for The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers - Wait list

The Riddle of the Sands

by Erskine Childers
Simon Vance
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks

While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Widely recognized as the first modern spy thriller, this lone masterpiece by World War I Royal Navy officer Erskine Childers was written in 1903 as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses. It accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since. Praised for its nautical action and richly authentic background as much as for its suspenseful spycraft, The Riddle of the Sands is the brilliant forerunner to the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carré.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 22, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481577519
      • File size: 298030 KB
      • Duration: 10:20:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1100
    • Text Difficulty: 7-9

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Journalist, novelist, politician, agitator, spy--this author's life would make better reading than any of his fiction. Still, this spy thriller raised a lot of commotion when first published in 1903 (the year of Sherlock Holmes's retirement). Indeed, it spawned a whole genre. It is a first-person tale of stereotypical young Englishmen on the scent of German spies in the North Sea. This is all very conventional Edwardian fare except for the loving details of yachting and the prophetic hint of German imperial ambition. Simon Vance lends a mature sound and considerable technique to his narration, making Childers's seafaring not only apparent, but contagious. However, because the narrator is unable to generate the excitement inherent in the story, the set is merely serviceable. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      This novel was a sensation when it was published in Britain in 1903 because it made a convincing case for the imperialist threat posed by Britain's ally Germany. We follow two young Englishmen as they uncover a German military plot while sailing a small boat around Holland's coastal waters. The mystery is interesting, the social commentary more interesting, and if you are a sailor, the descriptions of rudders, tides, winds, water, and cooking in a miniscule cabin are riveting. (If you aren't a sailor, they're fun, but a bit much.) Richard Heffer is a sailor as well as a narrator, and his knowledge shows in his ability to make the sailing passages clear despite their complexity. He doesn't create different voices, which is fine because he excels in reading speech believably. All of real speech's pauses, shifts in tone, and changes of pace and intonation are beautifully rendered. A lovely job. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Journalist, novelist, politician, agitator, spy--this author's life would make better reading than any of his fiction. Still, this spy thriller raised a lot of commotion when first published in 1903 (the year of Sherlock Holmes's retirement). Indeed, it spawned a whole genre. It is a first-person tale of stereotypical young Englishmen on the scent of German spies in the North Sea. This is all very conventional Edwardian fare except for the loving details of yachting and the prophetic hint of German imperial ambition. Dermot Kerrigan has the right sound for the hero/storyteller--youthful, energetic, just a bit strident. But whatever tension and adventure may have enlivened the book has been excised in an awkward abridgment, which also makes the plot twists hard to follow. Arbitrary pauses and a laconic pace further cut suspense. In the final analysis, this narrator fails to muster the excitement inherent to the story. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      This seminal British thriller, the only novel by Erskine Childers (1870-1922), tells of two amateur spies, their nautical observations of seven sandy islands off the German coast, and their growing fears about England's susceptibility to invasion. Though the 1903 text is dotted at times with "by Jove"-like Briticisms, Anton Lesser makes these locutions seem more dashing and dramatic than dated and strange. He reads with urgency and intensity; this confidential seriousness adds a pleasing touch to the quaint undertones of Childers's writing. (The packaging includes a reproduction of two maps from the original edition of the novel.) G.H. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 14, 2011
      An insightful introduction by the author's great-grandson distinguishes this reissue of a seminal work of spy fiction first published in 1903. At the dawn of the 20th century, Carruthers, a young Foreign Office functionary, is lamenting being stuck in London with little to do when he receives a surprising communiqué from Oxford classmate Arthur Davies. Davies's request to join him on a yacht in Schleswig-Holstein includes an eccentric laundry-list of items that Davies wants his friend to bring. With nothing else on his horizon, Carruthers accepts, and ends up enmeshed in intrigue centering on Davies's concern that Germany's growing sea-power poses a threat to England. Childers (1870–1922) couples his patiently developed plot with richly imagined lead characters. Davies himself is the standout, rounded out by numerous quirks, including a craving for throwing items overboard from his small vessel. Eric Ambler fans will find this a fascinating antecedent.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1100
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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