The Foreign Correspondent

The Foreign Correspondent

by Alan Furst (Author)

Synopsis

By 1939, thousands of Italian intellectuals, teachers and lawyers, journalists and scientists, had fled Mussolini's fascist government and found refuge in Paris. There, amidst the poverty and difficulty of emigre life, they joined the Italian resistance, founding an underground press that smuggled news and encouragement back to their lost homeland. In Paris, in the winter of 1939, a murder/suicide at a lovers' hotel hits the tabloid press. But this is not a romantic tragedy, it is the work of OVRA, Mussolini's fascist secret police, and meant to eliminate the editor of Liberazione, a clandestine newspaper published by Italian emigres. Carlo Weisz, who has fled from Trieste and found work as a foreign correspondent for the Reuters bureau, becomes the new editor. Weisz is, at that moment, in Spain, reporting on the tragic end of the Spanish civil war, but, as soon as he returns to Paris, he is pursued by the French Surete, by agents of OVRA, and by officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service. In the desperate politics of Europe on the edge of war, a foreign correspondent is a pawn, worth surveillance, or blackmail, or murder. The Foreign Correspondent is the story of Carlo Weisz and a handful of anti-fascists -- the army officer known as Colonel Ferrara, who fights for a lost cause in Spain, Arturo Salamone, the shrewd leader of a resistance group in Paris, and the woman who becomes the love of his Weisz's life, herself involved in a doomed resistance underground in Berlin, at the heart of Hitler's Nazi empire. An epic story of romantic love: love of country and love of freedom. The story of a secret war, fought in elegant hotel bars and first-class railway cars, fought in the mountains of Spain and the hill towns of Italy -- inspiring, and thrilling.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Publisher: W&N
Published: 09 Nov 2006

ISBN 10: 0297848291
ISBN 13: 9780297848295
Book Overview: 'For connoisseurs of wartime thrillers, a new novel by Alan Furst has become a major publishing event' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'In the world of espionage thrillers, Alan Furst is in a class of his own' William Boyd

Media Reviews
'Mr Furst excels at period atmosphere, which he conjures up, not with a litany of facts absorbed and reproduced, but with light touches that suggest the broader scene. His characters are wonderfully human: complex and ambiguous, fearful and determined, but people, who, when need to be, can gather their courage and do what needs to be done. Mr Furst is a subtle, economical writer who knows precisely when to stop a sentence.' THE ECONOMIST (10.6.06) 'There is something deeply comforting about Furst's cat-and-mousery, played out in Spain, Italy and the smoke-filled bars of Paris. But beneath the period detail there is both a complicated thriller and a full-throated love story.' WWW.FIRSTPOST.CO.UK 'outstandingly atmospheric and well-informed.' -- Jessica Mann LITERARY REVIEW 'The Foreign Correspondent is a reminder that the espionage novel - if that's what we're going to call it - can still be a vehicle for fine writing. Furst's audacious reinvention of the genre is a constant delight.' -- Barry Forshaw THE INDEPENDENT (5.12.06) 'a typically silky spy thriller...the period minutiae, as ever, were superb.' -- David Robson SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'This is the kind of literate and erudite writing we have come to expect from Alan Furst, who gives us an object lesson in how a quiet, beautifully written spy thriller can be just as gripping as anything in which bombs and bullets fly...Excellent.' -- Matthew Lewin THE GUARDIAN (9.12.06) 'He [Furst] certainly knows his territory, and writes beautifully from the first sentence.' -- Alex Berenson THE SCOTSMAN (16.12.06) 'Furst's heroes are exceptional in their intelligence, their canny ability to survice, and their remarkable attractiveness to women.' -- Ruth Morse TLS (22 & 29 December 2006) 'Furst is often compared to Graham Greene, but a closer parallel might be Eric Ambler, who likewise dealt in the interface of politics and business, and whose characters are more ambiguous but less divided than Greene's...Furst...[is] so pleasurable and rewarding to read.' -- Michael Carlson THE SPECTATOR (30.12.06) 'Furst's Simenon-like evocations of mid-century Paris are a reliable delight; what is also impressive here is how a relatively slender novel gives a panoramic picture of fascism and its opponents elsewhere in Europe, as Weisz's job takes him to Spain, Germany, Italy and Czechoslovakia.' -- John Dugdale SUNDAY TIMES (7.1.07) 'a thrilling evocation of Paris just before the Second World War.' -- George Byrne EVENING HERALD (4.11.07) 'Does anyone write better espionage thrillers than Alan Furst? The answer is a ringing no...This is a novel that shows Furst at his masterful best, his prose beautifully shaped, his use of understatement serene, and his creation of character supreme. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. You won't get better.' -- Vincent Banville IRISH TIMES (27.1.07)
Author Bio
Alan Furst has lived for long periods in France, especially in Paris, and has travelled as a journalist in Eastern Europe and Russia. He has written extensively for Esquire and the International Herald Tribune.