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.

Erskine Childers's gripping espionage thriller is set in the eerie seas and sands off the north coast of Germany Languishing one summer at the Foreign Office in London,Carruthers is rescued by an unexpected invitation to join Arthur Davies on the Dulcibella in the Baltic. A grouse-shooting party or a weekend at Cowes would have been more Carruthers's style. More disconcerting still, soon after his arrival it emerges that Davies needs his assistance, not on a yachting holiday, but in a spot of amateur spying ...

Preface

1. The Letter

2. The Dulcibella

3. Davies

4. Retrospect

5. Wanted, a North Wind

6, Schlei Fiord

7. The Missing Page

8. The Theory

9. I Sign Articles

10. His Chance

11. The Pathfinders

12. My Initiation

13. The Meaning of our Work

14. The First Night in the Islands

15. Bensersiel

16. Commander yon Bruning

17. Clearing the Air

18. Imperial Escort

19. The Rubicon

20. The Little Drab Book

21. Blindfold to Memmert

22. The Quartette

23. A Change of Tactics

24. Finesse

25. I Double Back

26. The Seven Siels

27. The Luck of the Stowaway

28. We Achieve our Double Aim

Epilogue