A thrilling SOE spy novel by a former special forces officer who is
'poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carré'
'Edward Wilson seems poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carré'
Irish Independent
'More George Smiley than James Bond, Catesby will delight those readers
looking for less blood and more intelligence in their spy thrillers'
Publishers Weekly
Cambridge, 1941. A teenage William Catesby leaves his studies to join
the war effort.
Parachuted into Occupied France as an SOE officer, he witnesses
remarkable feats of bravery during the
French Resistance.
Yet he is also privy to infighting and betrayal - some of the Maquisards
are more concerned with controlling the peace than fighting the war.
Double agents and informers abound, and with torture a certainty if he
is taken, Catesby knows there is no one he can trust.
Passed from safe house to safe house, with the Abwehr on his tail, he is
drawn towards Lyon, a city of backstreets and blind alleys. His mission
is simple: thwart an act of treachery that could shape the future of
France.
'Edward Wilson's excellent Portrait of the Spy as a Young Man draws on
his own special forces training'
Independent
'Engaging . . . Dynamic . . . Wilson's fascination is as much with how
the spy betrays himself as with how
he manipulates others' The Times
Praise for Edward Wilson:
'Stylistically sophisticated . . . Wilson knows how to hold the reader's
attention' W.G. Sebald
'A reader is really privileged to come across something like this' Alan
Sillitoe
'All too often, amid the glitzy gadgetry of the spy thriller, all the
fast cars and sexual adventures, we lose sight of the essential
seriousness of what is at stake. John le Carré reminds us, often, and so
does Edward Wilson' Independent
