Showing results for "Secret Agents" in Literature & Fiction

Exclusively from Audible. The Secret Agent is based on an actual attempt made in 1894 to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. A labyrinth of greed, corruption, and betrayal, it is the most darkly humorous of all Conrad's tales. It follows a European secret agent, Adolf Verloc, 'a London shop owner' with anarchist leanings who becomes reluctantly involved in a plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Full of great characters, melodramatic irony and psychological intrigue the tale is far from simple....

In the shadows of London, a quiet shopkeeper is living a dangerous double life. Adolf Verloc appears ordinary—a husband, a small business owner, a man who keeps to himself. But behind the dusty windows of his shop lies a web of espionage, anarchists, and secret orders from foreign powers. Pressured to prove his usefulness, Verloc becomes entangled in a reckless plot that spirals far beyond his control. As the scheme unfolds, the consequences ripple through the lives closest to him—especially his wife, Winnie, whose quiet loyalty is tested in ways she never imagined.

The Secret Agent tells the story of Adolf and Winnie Verloc. He is a phony anarchist and agent provocateur of the title, and the plot centres around the terrible consequences for their family when he is pressured into planning a terrorist act. It also bleakly satirises early 20th Century anarchism and the operations of the police and intelligence forces, while being none too complimentary about the media and general public either. Summary by Cori Samuel.

Conrad builds his story from the inside out, revealing a world of conspirators, police, fanatics, and bystanders whose inner lives are as explosive as any bomb they carry. Each figure—Mr. Verloc, torn between indolence and obligation; Winnie, holding a family together with quiet ferocity; the vulnerable Stevie; and the coldly obsessive Professor—is drawn with psychological depth that turns this political thriller into a devastating human drama.

An unknown location, occupied France, 1944. Dropping silently behind enemy lines, Sylvia Crichton, codename Monique, is determined to fight for the country of her birth and tear it from its Nazi stranglehold. As one of the dancers at the nightclub Mirabelle, Sylvie’s mission is to entertain the club’s German clientele and learn their secrets. In a world of deception and lies, she can trust no one. 

Adolf Verloc is a secret agent who provides information and takes care of arriving undercover agents of an un-named government through their embassy. He also runs a shady business selling pornography, comic books, contraceptives, and the like. As well as this, he’s a confidential informant to Chief Inspector Heat of the London police. His family consists of his wife, Winnie, her Mother, and his (presumably) autistic brother-in-law, Stevie.

Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be "a simple tale" proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats, and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations.

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Luke Norris, known for his role in BBC drama Poldark. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Michael Newton. In the only novel Conrad set in London, The Secret Agent communicates a profoundly ironic view of human...

Secret agent Mr. Adolph Verloc operates from a seedy Soho shop, where he deals in pornography and espionage. Idle, treacherous, and self-righteous, he makes the life of his wife, Winnie, one of silent misery. When Verloc is assigned to plant a bomb at Greenwich Observatory, his plans go terribly awry, and his family has to deal with the tragic repercussions of his actions. Joseph Conrad's dark satire on English society, while rooted in the Edwardian period, remains strikingly contemporary.

"The Secret Agent" is a novel written by Joseph Conrad, and published in 1907. The story is set in London in the late nineteenth century and revolves around a group of anarchists and their plot to detonate a bomb at Greenwich Observatory. The novel explores themes such as terrorism, politics, morality, and betrayal. The novel's protagonist is Adolf Verloc, a seemingly unremarkable man who owns a small shop selling pornographic materials. However, he is also a secret agent working for an unnamed foreign embassy.

Joseph Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent (1907) is a tragic tale based on the themes of espionage, double agents, anarchism, and terrorism. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Verloc, who works as a spy for an unnamed country. When he becomes involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory, things go haywire, revealing an unholy mess that involves politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats, and London's high society.

The Secret Agent was one of the first espionage novels ever written, and it is certainly one of the finest in the oeuvre of Joseph Conrad. The story concerns the attempt by a group of back-alley revolutionaries to destroy one of London's most famous landmarks and thereby set off a revolution.

Inspired by an actual terrorist attack on Greenwich Laboratory in 1894 ‘The Secret Agent’ is arguably Conrad’s greatest work. Mr. Verloc, the spy, is roused to action by his masters. He is to instigate an act ‘of destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, and almost unthinkable; in fact, mad’. All does not run smoothly however and leads to Mr Verloc’s wife, Winnie, demonstrating how quickly rational equilibrium can change to frenzied destruction.

Our agent, a man named Mr Verloc, minds his own business while he keeps his shop in London's Soho, alongside his wife, who attends to her aged mother and disabled brother. Their lives are turned upside down when Verloc is reluctantly employed to plant a bomb and destroy an observatory in London. What was once the perfect bomb plot inevitably turns awry and Verloc, his family and his associates are forced to face the consequences.

This classic precursor to the modern-day spy novel was recently in headlines when it was revealed that the Unabomber drew considerable inspiration from its prophetic portrait of terrorism. Written in 1907 and set in Edwardian London, The Secret Agent resonates just as strongly in today's world, where a handful of fanatics can still play mad politics and victimize the innocent.

Dive into the shadowy world of The Secret Agent, a gripping tale by Conrad that expertly blends dark humor with political intrigue. Set in the back alleys of early 20th Century London, this story follows Verloc, a seemingly innocuous shop-owner who doubles as a phony anarchist and a double agent. As he becomes entangled in a daring plot to bomb the Greenwich Observatory, the lines between loyalty and betrayal blur in this captivating narrative of spies and anarchists. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)

Its genesis a real attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894, Conrad’s novel offers an ironic meditation not only on anarchy and revolution, with all the deception and intrigue they imply, but also on loyalty – to friends and family, to country and ideals. ‘They swarmed numerous like...

Intrigue, espionage and anarchy abound in what is still considered Conrad’s finest novel. Adolf Verloc, a Russian spy working for the police, is embroiled in a plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. When the attack goes awry, Verloc must face the consequences. Beloved star of the screen and stage Tim Pigott-Smith provides a thrilling narration of this strikingly relevant tale.

Inspired by the tragic accidental death of an anarchist in 1894 outside the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, London, Conrad weaves a gripping narrative centered around Adolf Verloc, a lazy and duplicitous secret agent working for a foreign government. Under immense pressure, he is compelled to carry out an act of shocking senselessness against the very essence of astronomy. As the story unfolds, it darkly yet humorously explores the hidden motives of Londons anarchists, revolutionaries, police, and government officials. In a world where appearances are deceiving, nearly every ...

Do I dare trust my heart to Secret Agent Gargoyle? Angie: When my beer kegs turn up missing days before a big event, I hire Monsters, PI to track down my beer. Who's assigned to my case? Tuvid, the gargoyle who wrongfully accused me of gnome-theft. Tuvid's seven feet of gargoyle muscles with a...