Erskine Childers
Personal Information
Description
Robert Erskine Childers, the author of the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard (Wikipedia).
Books
The Riddle of the Sands
Childers's lone masterpiece, THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS, considered the first modern spy thriller, is recognisable as the brilliant forerunner of the realism of Graham Greene and John le Carre. Its unique flavour comes from its fine characterization,richly authentic background of inshore sailing and vivid evocation of the late 1890s - an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and intrigue that was soon to lead to war.
The Times history of the war in South Africa, 1899-1902
In the Ranks of the C.I.V
Having read only the first 60 pages on line, I find it to be an exceptionally well written and thoroughly absorbing account of an english soldier, a volunteer driver with the cavalry, leaving England and journeying to the South African interior to fight. Written in a diary style, with descriptive gems, it offers an entertaining protrayal of his life on board the troopship "Montfort" and in a foreign country at the turn of the 20th Century.