Why did I love this book?
This is a real golden oldie, published in 1927. I read it when I was in my teens, and I periodically re-read it.
Ashenden is a collection of short stories about a British spy who is also a writer and it paints a picture of spy amateurism and the grubby grind of the work dealing with agents. I love how it reeks of authenticity as Ashenden travels around neutral Switzerland trying to recruit difficult and greedy agents. Maugham was a spy, and Switzerland was his beat during WWI.
2 authors picked Ashenden or The British Agent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.