Alan Furst

From Free net encyclopedia

Alan Furst is an American author of historical spy novels set just prior to and during the Second World War. His early novels in the 1970s received limited success but the publication of Night Soldiers in 1988 revitalised both his career and, it could be argued, the entire genre of the spy novel.

While Furst deals with territory familiar to readers of Graham Greene and Eric Ambler, his writing has a "literary" quality that sets it apart from most thriller writers.

The city of Paris plays a key role in all Furst novels but Furst has also been particlarly successful in evoking the cities and characters of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the 1930s.

Furst has long had a devoted following in the UK but his readership in North America has grown sharply since 2001.

Furst was born in New York but has also lived in Paris and in Seattle. He currently lives on Long Island.

Novels