Holy Smoke
By Derek Robinson
The witty, gripping tale - based on real events - of how an Italian pornographer hoodwinked US Intelligence at the height of WWII
The summer of 1944. Rome, Italy - somewhat battered, but liberated by the Allies and glad to be out of the war. Enter a powerful American intelligence agency, hot in pursuit of secret information. Also enter a stunted, insignificant, middle-aged, unemployed Italian journalist, fresh out of jail and desperate for work.
On the face of it, a grotesquely one-sided confrontation, heavily weighted in favour of the professionals. What could possibly go wrong? In the event, almost everything. And that's a fact.
Biographical Notes
Derek Robinson, the son of a policeman, read history at Cambridge before working in advertising in London and New York. His novel Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1971.
- Other details
- ISBN:
9780857057341
- Publication date:
16 Nov 2017
- Page count:
- Imprint:
MacLehose Press
An outstanding novelist. — Max Hastings.
As writer, Robinson never hits a false note. — Nicholas Lezard, Guardian.
Robinson is a better story-teller than Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett or Wilbur Smith; his prose is as full of care and colour as most of the Booker winners. — Tibor Fischer, The Times.