{"product_id":"the-world-at-night-isbn-9780375758584","title":"The World at Night","description":"\u003cb\u003e“First-rate research collaborates with first-rate imagination. . . . Superb.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParis, 1940. The civilized, upper-class life of film producer Jean Casson is derailed   by the German occupation of Paris, but Casson learns that with enough money, compromise,   and connections, one need not deny oneself the pleasures of Parisian life. Somewhere   inside Casson, though, is a stubborn romantic streak. When he’s offered the chance   to take part in an operation of the British secret service, this idealism gives him   the courage to say yes. A simple mission, but it goes wrong, and Casson realizes   he must gamble everything—his career, the woman he loves, life itself. Here is a   brilliant re-creation of France—its spirit in the moment of defeat, its valor in   the moment of rebirth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe World at Night\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe World at Night\u003c\/i\u003e] earns a comparison with the serious entertainments of Graham Greene and John le Carré. . . . Gripping, beautifully detailed . . . an absorbing glimpse into the moral maze of espionage.”\u003cb\u003e—Richard Eder,\u003ci\u003e Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe World at Night\u003c\/i\u003e] is the world of Eric Ambler, the pioneering British author of classic World War II espionage fiction. . . . The novel is full of keen dialogue and witty commentary . . . . Thrilling.”\u003cb\u003e—Herbert Mitgang, \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With the authority of solid research and a true fascination for his material, Mr. Furst makes idealism, heroism, and sacrifice believable and real.”\u003cb\u003e—David Walton, \u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“First-rate research collaborates with first-rate imagination. . . . Superb.”\u003cb\u003e—The Boston   Globe\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “[\u003ci\u003eThe World at Night\u003c\/i\u003e] earns a comparison with the serious entertainments of   Graham Greene and John le Carré. . . . Gripping, beautifully detailed . . . an absorbing   glimpse into the moral maze of espionage.”\u003cb\u003e—Richard Eder,\u003ci\u003e Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “[\u003ci\u003eThe   World at Night\u003c\/i\u003e] is the world of Eric Ambler, the pioneering British author of classic   World War II espionage fiction. . . . The novel is full of keen dialogue and witty commentary . . . . Thrilling.”\u003cb\u003e—Herbert Mitgang, \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “With the authority of solid research and a true   fascination for his material, Mr. Furst makes idealism, heroism, and sacrifice believable   and real.”\u003cb\u003e—David Walton, \u003ci\u003eThe Dallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlan Furst\u003c\/b\u003e, widely recognized as the master of the historical spy novel, is the author of\u003ci\u003e A Hero of France, Midnight in Europe, Mission to Paris, \u003c\/i\u003eand many other bestsellers. Born in New York, he lived for many years in Paris, and now lives on Long Island.10 May, 1940\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong before dawn, Wehrmacht commando units came out of the forest on the Belgian border, overran the frontier posts, and killed the customs officers.  Glider troops set the forest ablaze, black smoke rolling over the canals and the spring fields.  On some roads the bridges were down, but German combat engineers brought up pontoon spans, and by first light the tanks and armored cars were moving again.  Heading southwest, to force the river Meuse, to conquer France.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Paris, the film producer Jean Casson was sleep.  His assistant, Gabrielle Vico, tried to wake him up by touching his cheek. They'd shared a bottle of champagne, made love all night, then fallen dead asleep just before dawn.  \"Are you awake?\" she whispered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No,\" he said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The radio.\" she put a hand on his arm in a way that meant there was something wrong.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat? The radio broken? Would she wake him up for that? It had been left on all night, now it buzzed, overheated.  He could just barely hear the voice of the announcer.  No, not an announcer.  Perhaps an engineer--somebody who happened to be at the station when news came in was reading it as best he could:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The attack...from the Ardennes forest...\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA long silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Into the Netherlands.  And Belgium.  By columns that reached back a hundred miles into Germany.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore silence.  Casson could hear the teletype clattering away in the studio.  He leaned close to the radio.  The man reading the news tried to clear his throat discreetly.  A paper rattled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ah...the Foreign Ministry states the following...\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe teleprinter stopped.  A moment of dead air.  Then it started up again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is the position of the government that that this agresssion is an intolerable violation of Belgian neutrality.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGabriella and Casson stared at each other.  They were hardly more than strangers.  This was an office romance, something that had simmered and simmered, \u003ci\u003eand then, one night.\u003c\/i\u003e But the coming of the war turned out to be, somehow, intimate, like Christmas, and that was a surprise to both of them.  Casson could see how pale she was.  Would she cry?  He really didn't know very much about her.  Young, and slim, and Italian--well, Milanese.  Long hair, long legs.  What was she--twenty-six? Twenty-seven?  He'd always though that she fitted into her life like a cat, never off balance.  Now she'd been caught out--here it was \u003ci\u003ewar\u003c\/i\u003e, and she was smelly and sticky, still half-drunk, with breath like a dragon.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Okay?\" He used \u003ci\u003ele slang Americain.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe nodded that she was.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe put a hand on her neck. \"You're like ice,\" he said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm scared.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe went looking for a cigarette, probing an empty packet of Gitanes on the night table.  \"I have some,\" she said, glad for something to do.  She rolled off the bed and went into the living room. \u003ci\u003eMerde\u003c\/i\u003e, Casson said to himself.  War was the last thing he needed.  Hitler had taken Austria, Czechoslovakia, then Poland. France had declard war, but it meant nothing.  Germany and France couldn't fight again, they'd just done that-- ten million dead, no much else accomplished.  It was simply not, everybody agreed, \u003ci\u003elogique.\u003c\/i\u003e[quote]--The Boston Globe","brand":"Random House Trade Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305390428389,"sku":"NP9780375758584","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375758584.jpg?v=1767742308","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-world-at-night-isbn-9780375758584","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}