ERSKINE CHILDERS

Childers' lone masterpiece, "The Riddle of the Sands", considered the first modern spy thriller, is recognizable as the brilliant forerunner of the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carre. Its unique flavour comes from its fine characterization, richly authentic background of inshore sailing and vivid evocation of the late 1890s - an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and intrigue that was soon to lead to war.

Childers'' lone masterpiece, "The Riddle of the Sands", considered the first modern spy thriller, is recognisable as the brilliant forerunner of the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carre. Its unique flavour comes from its fine characterization, richly authentic background of inshore sailing and vivid evocation of the late 1890s - an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and intrigue that was soon to lead to war.

The best story of adventure published in the last quarter of a century John BuchanThe perennial classic. Arguably the first spy novel ever written remains one of the finest examples of the genre to this day.While on a duck-hunting holiday sailing in the Frisian Isles, Carruthers and his friend Davies become suspicious of German naval activity off the North Sea Coast. The pair decide to investigate, and are soon embroiled in a world of suspense and intrigue, and the pair set about foiling nothing less than a plot to invade England.Initially published in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands proved a prescient vision of the Anglo-German conflict that was to culminate in the First World War. This thrilling adventure is now regarded as the first - and one of the best - spy novels ever written, inspiring later masters of the genre from John Buchan to John le Carre.

"The Riddle of the Sands" was published in May 1903, and it has probably sold more than two million copies in its lifetime. Its author Erskine Childers was infuriated when it was described as fiction, because for him the issue of a probable German invasion by sea was real and the danger obvious. Then, Childers meant it as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defences, "The Riddle of the Sands" accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spy craft.The theme of "The Riddle of the Sands" is the relationship between Britain and Germany, in language, loyalty, and states of aggression. The novel shows what relations between Britain and Germany were like before the First World War. It develops the story of a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, where two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England.

As the two of them navigate the waters and treacherous, shifting sands of the Frisian Islands on board the Dulcibella, it is soon clear to Carruthers that Davies has more on his mind than a little duck shooting. As they encounter danger at every turn, Carruthers warms to his courageous and brave-hearted friend and through him begins to discover new strengths within himself and a sense of moral purpose.

Do you like Stieg Larssons Millennium, James Bond and dystopian dramas like The Man in the High Castle? The 1903 spy thriller The Riddle of the Sands has elements of all three - and then some. Ken Follett, author of The Pillars of the Earth, called The Riddle of the Sands the "first modern thriller".It centres on a suspected plot by the German Empire to invade Britain. The plot proved to be almost prophetic, bearing in mind what was to follow in the First World War and the Second World War in the coming decades. Minor civil servant Carruthers and his friend, Davies are the men investigating the plot while on a yachting holiday in the Baltic Sea. They are drawn into an intricate story that includes secret treasure, a British traitor and a race against time to save Britain from the grip of the Kaiser.In 1979 The Riddle of the Sands was made into a spy thriller movie, starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter and Simon MacCorkindale.Childers technique of including a great deal of detail that could be verified was later used by authors including: John Buchan, who wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps; James Bond author Ian Fleming and John Le Carre.

Childers's lone masterpiece, The Riddle of the Sands, considered the first modern spy thriller, is recognisable as the brilliant forerunner of the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carre. Its unique flavour comes from its fine characterization, richly authentic background of inshore sailing and vivid evocation of the late 1890s - an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and intrigue that was soon to lead to war.

When Carruthers joins his friend Arthur Davies on his yacht Dulcibella, he is expecting a pleasant sailing holiday in the Baltic Sea. But the holiday turns into an adventure of a different kind. He and Davies soon find themselves sailing in the stormy waters of the North Sea, exploring the channels and hidden sandbanks around the German Frisian Islands, and looking for a secret a secret that could mean great danger for England. Erskine Childers'' novel, published in 1903, was the first great modern spy story, and is still as exciting to read today as it was a hundred years ago.

While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Written by Childers--who served in the Royal Navy during World War I--as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses, "The Riddle of the Sands" accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spycraft.

The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a patriotic British 1903 novel by Erskine Childers.It is a novel that "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain"; perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carre and many others." Ken Follett called it "the first modern thriller."

Considered the first proper spy novel, Riddle of the Sands is about two blokes floating about in a boat who suspect Germany is plotting an invasion from the Frisian Islands. The story may be fiction, but Childers knew both sailing and the Frisian Islands inside-out, and wrote non-fiction books and articles about how Britain needed to update its military strategy in the Baltic. It was Riddle of the Sands that made an impact, though.Robert Erskine Childers (18701922), universally known as Erskine Childers, was the author of the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War. He was the son of British Orientalist scholar Robert Caesar Childers; the cousin of Hugh Childers and Robert Barton; and the father of the fourth President of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers.