The Spies of Warsaw, by Alan Furst
A Bubbling Stew of Espionage in Pre-War Paris, Warsaw and Berlin
Furst's latest novel follows the exploits of Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier de Boutillon, the French military attache in Warsaw, as he searches for clues to Nazi intentions in pre-war Europe. The scion of an old-world clan of French aristocrats and soldiers that dates back to the middle ages, Mercier is motivated by family pride and duty, but even more by a deep-felt sympathy for the common people whom he observes in his travels and an abiding love for the French way of life.
Espionage in Salons and Sleeper Cars
Mercier's duties take him to embassy parties, art exhibitions, first-class train cars, and the cold, piney night woods of Slovakia. He moves among a colorful cast of characters made up of secret agents, collaborators, opportunists, would-be defectors, and other provocateurs. They include an eccentric Russian couple, Polish factory workers, Nazi tank engineers, and Gestapo middle managers out to make a name for themselves. Along the way, Mercier, who has been a widow for 3 years, rediscovers love and pursues it as relentlessly as he chases his hunch that - against all prevailing wisdom - Germany plans a tank attack against France through the Ardennes forests.
The evidence of such an attack is there for all to see; a German general has even detailed it in a book. Still, the French government and it's allies refuse to see it, much to Mercier's consternation. His clandestine operations to confirm his suspicions must be run with his superiors' blessing, though not their permission. If he is successful, excellent; if not, then the brass has what is today called "deniability." Mercier, following his own best instincts, proceeds nonetheless, often to his own jeopardy.
The Politics of Pre-War Europe
The plot of The Spies of Warsaw harkens back to the comedy-of-errors novels of the 18th century, like Fielding's The History of Tom Jones. The Gestapo are watching a Pole, who is tailing a Frenchman, who is bribing a Brit, who is selling information to a Czech, who is working for the Gestapo. Mercier's arch-enemy, Major August Voss of SS counterintelligence, isn't motivated by patriotism or ideology; he's just angry that Mercier once made him look bad to his superiors. Mercier, himself, books an Agatha Christie-like overnight train ride to Belgrade, not to retrieve some valuable piece of intelligence, but to pursue an attractive woman he met at an embassy soiree.
But if this is a comedy, the outcome is not always a happy one. Mistakes lead to people dying. In 1937, it isn't illegal to observe Panzer maneuvers in the Czech woodlands, but it can be dangerous, as Mercier discovers. Jews are fleeing Europe by the thousands in the face of increasingly vicious persecution. In Russia, the gulags are in their full, murderous glory. For a diplomat or embassy functionary to be "recalled" to Moscow or Berlin often means to never be heard from again.
Life in the cafes of Europe still carries on in all of its insouciant ease. While the people and the pundits debate whether there will be war, it becomes increasingly obvious to the spies and diplomats that Nazi Germany is intent upon expansion. As those who people the shadow world begin to see the writing on the wall, Mercier is called upon to come to the aid of allies and adversaries alike.
Alan Furst's Heroes
With The Spies of Warsaw, Alan Furst has written nearly a dozen novels about Europe as it teeters over the precipice of World War II. Furst's heroes, like those of Hemingway and Conrad, are always thrown back upon their own resources and character, when the values and convictions of their world crumble around them. Of Mercier, Furst's narrator says: "He could only remain true to himself, there was no other possibility."
Mercier fights for himself, his country, and most of all "people who cared for him, his private nation." As the old-world order falls away, he can only strive to do what is right. His new-found love only increases his commitment to the war effort, as he has the wild idea that he can perhaps make a difference.
Furst came to espionage writing after an early career in advertising and journalism. A trip down the Danube, behind the lines of the Iron Curtain, awakened in him a sense of sympathy and respect for people forced to live in oppression and despair. His depictions of old-world Europe - its people, places, and culture - are documentary as well as a bit nostalgic. He has called his works "novels of consolation for people who are bright and sophisticated," noting that a knowledge of Europe and a feeling for language are helpful. But anyone who enjoys a movie like "Casablanca" will enjoy a novel by Alan Furst, one of the best historical espionage writers of our times.
Sources and Further Reading
The Spies of Warsaw, Random House 2008 (ISBN 978-1-4000-6602-5)
The Official Alan Furst Website
Alan Furst
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The Spies of Warsaw
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