Alan Furst writes atmospheric espionage novels, usually set in WW II. His first successful book was Night Soldiers, published in 1988. It is excellent but it left him with a problem, one he shares with Simon Raven, whose Brother Cain was published in 1959.
Both these early novels spill all the beans and both Furst and Raven spent the rest of their careers crafting a few of these beans at a time into new novels. At the moment I’m reading Furst’s, The World at Night. It is set in France during the German occupation and the hero is a French film producer based in Paris. Furst, an American, has lived for long periods in Paris and conjures up life under German occupation with its compromises, hardships and betrayals. Maybe the plot is a bit thin but his evocation of wartime Paris seems to me pitch-perfect.
Our hero is hired by Continental Films to produce a film for them. The company is financed from Germany, the subject matter is controlled and any involvement by Jews is forbidden but nevertheless Jean-Claude Casson needs the work. Continental Films is no invention by Furst. It made films in France from 1940 until 1944. One film stands out and is still popular: Le Corbeau. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, who later made Les Diaboliques, it was controversial before it was even released. He was sacked by Continental Films and the film was banned. He was also banned from making any more films, although both these bans were rescinded in 1947.
The film is set in a small town somewhere in France. A series of anonymous poison pen letters, signed Le Corbeau, are delivered to supposedly upstanding citizens. The author is eventually unmasked but not before the town has been torn apart. The parallel with life in France divided between patriots and collaborators is obvious and the most astonishing thing is that the film was made at all. The trailer contains clues: it was presented to the censor as a mystery movie of suspense and passion, not an indictment of the French people.
The Alan Furst – and thanks for the heads-up – looks like a good companion volume to his compatriot Scott Turow’s Ordinary Heroes (the latter is a richly atmospheric WW2 combat novel and uncharacteristic of the author’s work, except in being lawerly).
I see AF is put in the traditon of Eric Ambler.
If you push that a bit, here is a succession-run of marvellous and under-rated British WW1/WW2 (and between the wars) adventure and thriller writers: John Buchan (hardly neglected, but rather sniffed-at), Eric Ambler (the least neglected of this lineage), Geoffrey Household, Nigel Balchin, Nevil Shute, John Masters.
I’d like to put Eskine Childers in the list, but I only know (and love) the very charming movie of his The Riddle of the Sands.
Gavin Lyall would be in there, but even his Midnight Plus One – drenched in WW2 – is set post-war, which is I suppose a deal-breaker.