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The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, book cover
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The Riddle of the Sands

by Erskine Childers

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Under 100
First published
1903
Pages
289
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Read by Gesine · 12 h 24 min · 30 parts

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  1. Preface

    5:52

  2. The Letter

    18:09

  3. The Dulcibella

    32:56

  4. Davies

    25:05

  5. Retrospect

    19:23

  6. Wanted, a North Wind

    21:03

  7. Schlei Fiord

    17:48

  8. The Missing Page

    29:31

  9. The Theory

    28:04

  10. I Sign Articles

    20:37

  11. His Chance

    18:59

  12. The Pathfinders

    20:34

  13. My Initiation

    24:53

  14. The Meaning of our Work

    13:11

  15. The First Night in the Islands

    19:53

  16. Bensersiel

    17:32

  17. Commander von Bruening

    32:22

  18. Clearing the Air

    27:37

  19. Imperial Escort

    14:25

  20. The Rubicon

    32:44

  21. The Little Drab Book

    26:54

  22. Blindfold to Memmert

    35:12

  23. The Quartette

    29:51

  24. A Change of Tactics

    31:43

  25. Finesse

    36:27

  26. I Double Back

    29:34

  27. The Seven Siels

    31:16

  28. The Luck of the Stowaway

    36:46

  29. We Achieve our Double Aim

    20:57

  30. Epilogue and Postscript

    25:14

The Riddle of the Sands (1903) is a public domain work.

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About this book

A bored young Foreign Office clerk named Carruthers accepts an old acquaintance's invitation to go yachting among the sandbanks and tidal channels of Germany's Frisian coast. What begins as an awkward holiday turns serious when the two men stumble on evidence of a secret German plan to invade England by sea. Erskine Childers drew on his own expert knowledge of small-boat sailing to write one of the first modern spy novels, and the fog, tides, and shifting shoals become as tense as any chase. Published in 1903, the book was widely read as a genuine warning about Britain's naval defenses. Its patient, realistic craft still marks it as a founding work of the espionage genre. This free PDF and EPUB edition includes the original maps and charts.

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About the author

Erskine Childers

The Riddle of the Sands, published in 1903, sends two Englishmen yachting among the Frisian sandbanks and has them stumble on a plan for the invasion of England, and it is routinely named as the first modern spy novel. Childers wrote it partly as an argument for taking North Sea defence seriously, and the Admiralty took the point.

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Public domain book This work is in the public domain and free of copyright. Anyone may read, download and share it.

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Book facts

First published
1903
Reading time
About 8 hours
Pages
289
Language
English
Formats
PDF, EPUB, Read online, Audiobook
Audio read by
Gesine