The Secret Trilogy brings together all three of John Gardner’s espionage thrillers into one must-have collection for the very first time.
THE SECRET GENERATIONS
May, 1910
The world is on the eve of a war set to ruin the lives of a whole generation.
The Railton family are intimately involved in the world of espionage, which will become so crucial to the conflict’s outcome.
With the death of General Sir William Railton, the family patriarch and hero of Balaclava, the family is thrown into a world of violence and intrigue.
Manipulated by the new head of the family, the ruthless arch-intriguer Giles Railton, each member of the dynasty comes to play their part in the ‘Great Game’ of Intelligence.
Through the story of one family, whose lives become caught up in some of the greatest struggles of the twentieth century, John Gardner traces the birth, the successes and the failures of the organizations now known as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
From the battlefields of the Western Front to Russia on the eve of revolution, this epic work of fiction tells the story of the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services.
THE SECRET HOUSES
Two families - the Railtons in Britain and the Farthings in America - are at the heart of a titanic political struggle, their fates intertwined in the secret world of Intelligence by blood, love, loyalty and betrayal.
The British Secret Intelligence Service and the American Office of Strategic Services are locked in a desperate struggle to destroy the war machine that threatens the future of the world - and once again the Railtons and the Farthings are drawn into the secret struggle.
Both families are intimately concerned in the fate of the Tarot resistance network, operated by Caspar Railton under the nose of the ruthless SS officer Hans-Dieter Klaubert, known as the Devil of Orléans. Caspar has recruited his nieces Caroline and Jo-Jo as undercover agents in France, and their disappearance coincided with the break-up of Tarot.
The truth about Tarot and the fate of Caroline and Jo-Jo is at the heart of this enthralling instalment of an Intelligence saga that has been hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a classic of espionage fiction.
THE SECRET FAMILIES
The year is 1964.
The Cold War is at its height and Caspar Railton, the 'wounded lion' of the Railton clan, which for decades has dominated British Intelligence, is dead.
Even worse, evidence has emerged suggesting Caspar was a traitor and suspicion surrounds not only the Railtons but also the Farthings, the American family of spymasters connected by marriage to their British counterparts.
Yet Naldo refuses to accept his uncle's guilt and is determined to clear both families' names. With his cousin Arnold Farthing he embarks on a quest to uncover Caspar's past, a mission which takes both men deep into some of the most dangerous territory any agent can enter…
'A master storyteller at the height of his powers' - Len Deighton
`The first book ever to combine a family saga with a spy story ... Keeps you turning the pages up to the last twist of treachery' - Daily Express
‘An exciting spy story’ – Yorkshire Post
‘The suspense is well-portrayed both in the accounts of World War II and in the subsequent cold-war exploits’ – Booklist
Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.
THE SECRET GENERATIONS
May, 1910
The world is on the eve of a war set to ruin the lives of a whole generation.
The Railton family are intimately involved in the world of espionage, which will become so crucial to the conflict’s outcome.
With the death of General Sir William Railton, the family patriarch and hero of Balaclava, the family is thrown into a world of violence and intrigue.
Manipulated by the new head of the family, the ruthless arch-intriguer Giles Railton, each member of the dynasty comes to play their part in the ‘Great Game’ of Intelligence.
Through the story of one family, whose lives become caught up in some of the greatest struggles of the twentieth century, John Gardner traces the birth, the successes and the failures of the organizations now known as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
From the battlefields of the Western Front to Russia on the eve of revolution, this epic work of fiction tells the story of the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services.
THE SECRET HOUSES
Two families - the Railtons in Britain and the Farthings in America - are at the heart of a titanic political struggle, their fates intertwined in the secret world of Intelligence by blood, love, loyalty and betrayal.
The British Secret Intelligence Service and the American Office of Strategic Services are locked in a desperate struggle to destroy the war machine that threatens the future of the world - and once again the Railtons and the Farthings are drawn into the secret struggle.
Both families are intimately concerned in the fate of the Tarot resistance network, operated by Caspar Railton under the nose of the ruthless SS officer Hans-Dieter Klaubert, known as the Devil of Orléans. Caspar has recruited his nieces Caroline and Jo-Jo as undercover agents in France, and their disappearance coincided with the break-up of Tarot.
The truth about Tarot and the fate of Caroline and Jo-Jo is at the heart of this enthralling instalment of an Intelligence saga that has been hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a classic of espionage fiction.
THE SECRET FAMILIES
The year is 1964.
The Cold War is at its height and Caspar Railton, the 'wounded lion' of the Railton clan, which for decades has dominated British Intelligence, is dead.
Even worse, evidence has emerged suggesting Caspar was a traitor and suspicion surrounds not only the Railtons but also the Farthings, the American family of spymasters connected by marriage to their British counterparts.
Yet Naldo refuses to accept his uncle's guilt and is determined to clear both families' names. With his cousin Arnold Farthing he embarks on a quest to uncover Caspar's past, a mission which takes both men deep into some of the most dangerous territory any agent can enter…
Praise for John Gardner
'A master storyteller at the height of his powers' - Len Deighton
`The first book ever to combine a family saga with a spy story ... Keeps you turning the pages up to the last twist of treachery' - Daily Express
‘An exciting spy story’ – Yorkshire Post
‘The suspense is well-portrayed both in the accounts of World War II and in the subsequent cold-war exploits’ – Booklist
Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.
