Between Silk and Cyanide
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Cryptography, war memoir, youthful genius, grave responsibility.
Imagine the palpable tension of war-time codebreaking through the eyes of a too-smart-for-his-own-good 23-year-old. "Between Silk and Cyanide" offers a thrilling ride into the world of espionage, where each cipher solved could mean saving lives. Leo Marks's mix of memoir and suspense reveals humanity amidst the machinery of war, making it a gripping read for history buffs and fans of spy tales alike.
Between Silk and Cyanide
Regular price
- Unit price
- / per
ISBN: 9780002559447
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date of Publication: 1998-06-12
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads rating: 4.24
(rated by 2514 readers)
Description
Twenty-three is awfully young to find yourself with the power of life and death...Leo Marks failed the examination to go and work on codes at Bletchley by being just too good and too much of a smart aleck. Instead, he was imposed on a not entirely willing Special Operations Executive (SOE) to teach coding to agents dropped into Europe and to decode the sometimes indecipherable messages they sent back at great risk to their lives. His speeches to his staff on the mortal danger of slowness or carelessness are classics of guilt-tripping. Absence of mistakes made him suspect that the Germans had captured SOE's Dutch agents--his youth and personality meant that his superiors were slow to believe him. In his spare time, he revolutionized cryptography by inventing one-time-only pads, and wrote poems for agents to use as keys--including the poem associated with Violette Szabo, "Odette". This is a moving memoir of the agents like Odette and Noor Inayat Khan, whose fates we already know and whom he tried in vain to protect. This is a powerful memoir of war, responsibility and guilt; Marks, hitherto famous as screenwriter on Peeping Tom and son of the 84 Charing Cross Road family, has written a classic. --Roz Kaveney
Condition guide
Book Condition Guide
Books in Like New Condition
This book may contain very minor cosmetic defects, but it is in pristine condition. There should be no yellowing, no foxing, no water damage, and no annotations of any kind on the cover and the pages. For paperbacks, there should not be any crease marks on the spine. This book is good as new — lucky you!
*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.
Books in Very Good Condition
This book has been used, but it is still in a clean condition. There should be no foxing or annotations of any kind on the inner pages, but a sparse amount may be present on the cover, title pages, or outside edges of the book. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be light crease marks on the spine.
*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.
Books in Good Condition
We do our best to ensure the quality of our books, but there is no escaping the wear and tear that comes with time. Slight foxing and some annotations may be present on the pages and the cover. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be several crease marks on the spine.
*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.
Books in Well Read Condition
This is a well-read book, which means that the previous owner probably really enjoyed it! The cover and pages may include moderate foxing and annotations, but the text is not obscured and still readable. Moderate cosmetic defects and minor water damage may be present on the edges of the book. For paperbacks, there may be multiple crease marks on the spine.
*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.
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Cryptography, war memoir, youthful genius, grave responsibility.
Imagine the palpable tension of war-time codebreaking through the eyes of a too-smart-for-his-own-good 23-year-old. "Between Silk and Cyanide" offers a thrilling ride into the world of espionage, where each cipher solved could mean saving lives. Leo Marks's mix of memoir and suspense reveals humanity amidst the machinery of war, making it a gripping read for history buffs and fans of spy tales alike.
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