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The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent
Nov 25, 2025 1:49 AM

Author:Joseph Conrad

The Secret Agent

In the only novel Conrad set in London, The Secret Agent; communicates a profoundly ironic view of human affairs. The story is woven around an attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894 masterminded by Verloc, a Russian spy working for the police, and ostensibly a member of an anarchist group in Soho. His masters instruct him to discredit the anarchists in a humiliating fashion, and when his evil plan goes horribly awry, Verlac must deal with the repercussions of his actions.

Reviews

A light and entertaining read with likeable characters

—— Woman's Own

A remarkable evocation of another time and another frame of reference

—— Daily Telegraph

Julia Blackburn has an extraordinary talent for thinking herlsef into other worlds... Reading her book, you experience the uncanny sensation that you have somehow always known these places

—— Evening Standard

She wears her talents like a modern Renaissance woman with elegance and affable ease

—— The Times

This is Elton at his best - mature, humane, and still a laugh a minute. At least

—— Daily Telegraph

Only Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questions about gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrative and jokes that make you laugh out loud

—— Tony Parsons

A very funny book about a sensitive subject ... Ben Elton the writer might even be funniter than Ben Elton the comic

—— Daily Mail

The selections from the greats are generous and well chosen

—— Guardian
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