Classics · TenseAdolf Verloc, a police informant and agent for a foreign embassy, is pressured to stage a bombing in London
The Secret Agent
A shopkeeper who informs for the police is pushed to stage a bombing
Adolf Verloc runs a shop in Soho, London, in 1886, and he is also a police informant and an agent for a foreign embassy. He is pressured to stage a bombing in London, which pulls in his wife Winnie, her brother Stevie, his anarchist associates, and the police, led by Chief Inspector Heat. It was serialized in eleven installments in Ridgway's from 1905 to 1906, and Methuen published it as a book on 12 September 1907.
More about this book
Who
Adolf Verloc, Winnie Verloc, Stevie, Chief Inspector Heat, Mr Vladimir and the anarchists around Verloc.
World
Soho, London, in 1886.
What makes it different
Conrad dedicated it to H. G. Wells. Stevie was inspired by the French anarchist Martial Bourdin.
Feel
Grim and ironic.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Secret AgentWikipedia