The Riddle of the Sands: Erskine Childers (Macmillan Collector's Library)

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. One of the first great spy novels, The Riddle of the Sands is set during the long, suspicious years leading up to the First World War. In spite of good prospects in the Foreign Office, sardonic civil servant Carruthers is finding it hard to endure the boredom of his life in Lo ndon. He accepts an invitation from a college friend, Davies, a shyly intrepid yachtsman, and joins him on a sailing holiday in the Baltic and there, amidst the sunshine and bright blue seas, they discover a German plot to invade England... Like much contemporary British spy fiction, The Riddle of the Sands reflects the Anglo-German rivalry of the early 20th century, and the intricacy of its conception and its lucid detail make it a classic of its genre. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition features maps drawn from Childers' originals and an afterword by Ned Halley.