‘The Riddle of the Sands’ by Erskine Childers

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

(Audiobook)

First published in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands influenced many spy stories by writers such as John Buchan, Ian Fleming and John le Carre. When civil servant Caruthers is invited on a duck-shooting holiday with his yachting enthusiast pal, Davies, he learns about his friend’s recent sailing adventures. But when some details of the story don’t quite ring true, he begins to suspect something sinister. It soon transpires that Davies has a plan to track down the perpetrators of a plot to invade Britain.  

This is a classic tale of intrigue that predicts World War One, and in fact its publication prompted certain defences to be set up prior to the war. The story is told in the fashion of the time with much stiff-upper-lipped Englishness and a gung-ho attitude to danger. There are a great many sailing terms (many of which went over my head) and some of the details of the venture go on a little too long, but otherwise, it’s a gripping tale that lands the heroes in several tricky situations as they struggle to work out what the bad guys are up to. 

Superbly narrated by the incomparable Anton Lesser, this is a classic tale of spying set at the turn of the last century.

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