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BLOOD OF VICTORY
by Furst, Alan
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0375505741
- ISBN 13
- 9780375505744
- Seller
-
Canandaigua, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Random House, 2002. First Edition, First Printing. . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. The seventh novel from Furst, now acknowledged as the master of the World War II historical spy thriller, is set in late 1940 and features a Russian writer, I.A. Serebin, who arrives in Istanbul as a respresentative of a Paris-based emigre agency. Serebin, a veteran of four previous wars, finds himself recruited by a Hungarian spy master to work for British Intelligence's desperate efforts to cut off Nazi Germany's supply of oil from the Balkans. A short gift inscription to the previous owner on the front end page, o/w boards and text are clean and unmarked, tight and square. The dustjacket shows a half-inch tear on the top of the fold between the back panel and back flap (tape-repaired on verso), o/w some light surface and edgewear. No other tears, no creasing or chipping, not price-clipped. A nice copy of a classic Furst spy-thriller.
Synopsis
"In 1939, as the armies of Europe mobilized for war, the British secret services undertook operations to impede the exportation of Roumanian oil to Germany. They failed."Then, in the autumn of 1940, they tried again."So begins Blood of Victory, a novel rich with suspense, historical insight, and the powerful narrative immediacy we have come to expect from bestselling author Alan Furst. The book takes its title from a speech given by a French senator at a conference on petroleum in 1918: "Oil," he said, "the blood of the earth, has become, in time of war, the blood of victory."November 1940. The Russian writer I. A. Serebin arrives in Istanbul by Black Sea freighter. Although he travels on behalf of an emigre organization based in Paris, he is in flight from a dying and corrupt Europe--specifically, from Nazi-occupied France. Serebin finds himself facing his fifth war, but this time he is an exile, a man without a country, and there is no army to join. Still, in the words of Leon Trotsky, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Serebin is recruited for an operation run by Count Janos Polanyi, a Hungarian master spy now working for the British secret services. The battle to cut Germany's oil supply rages through the spy haunts of the Balkans; from the Athenee Palace in Bucharest to a whorehouse in Izmir; from an elegant yacht club in Istanbul to the river docks of Belgrade; from a skating pond in St. Moritz to the fogbound banks of the Danube; in sleazy nightclubs and safe houses and nameless hotels; amid the street fighting of a fascist civil war.Blood of Victory is classic Alan Furst, combining remarkable authenticity and atmosphere with the complexity and excitement of an outstanding spy thriller. As Walter Shapiro of Time magazine wrote, "Nothing can be like watching Casablanca for the first time, but Furst comes closer than anyone has in years."From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- H.W. Gumaer, Bookseller
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 004693
- Title
- BLOOD OF VICTORY
- Author
- Furst, Alan
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing.
- ISBN 10
- 0375505741
- ISBN 13
- 9780375505744
- Publisher
- Random House
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2002
- Keywords
- WAR, WWII, SPY, FIRST EDITION, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, BALKANS
- Bookseller catalogs
- Spy; Suspense; Europe;
Terms of Sale
H.W. Gumaer, Bookseller
All books subject to prior sale. All books returnable within two weeks for any reason. Please return by USPS (media mail rate) and note the reason for return. All sales subject to applicable taxes.
About the Seller
H.W. Gumaer, Bookseller
Biblio member since 2005
Canandaigua, New York
About H.W. Gumaer, Bookseller
H.W. Gumaer, Bookseller, has been serving customers on the internet since 2003. We specialize in modern American and English fiction and in mystery and detective thrillers, as well as art and art history. We also have a growing selection of mid-to-late 19th century history and literature. Nearly all our modern and contemporary books are first editions or otherwise collectable.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- O/W
- An abbreviation for otherwise
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
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