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    The Riddle of the Sands
    The Riddle of the Sands
    The Riddle of the Sands
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    The Riddle of the Sands

    Written by Erskine Childers

    Narrated by Dermot Kerrigan

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Carruthers is rescued from a hot summer at a deserted Foreign Office in London, by an out-of-the-blue invitation to join an acquaintance, Davis, on his yacht in the Baltic. He arrives to find not only that he comprises the whole crew, but also that Davies needs his help in a spying mission with enormous stakes. The Riddle of the Sands, with its early warnings of the dangers of a German invasion by sea, created a sensation when it appeared in 1990. It is the forerunner of the spy novels of John Le Carré and Graham Greene, and its detail and dry humour have made it a classic for sailors as well as for thriller addicts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateFeb 1, 2006
    ISBN9789629544713
    Author

    Erskine Childers

    Robert Erskine Childers was born in 1870 to an English father, Robert Caesar Childers, a famed professor of oriental languages at University College London, and his wife Anna, from the distinguished Barton family of Co Wicklow, Ireland. Both parents died from TB when he was a small boy, and Childers was brought up at his mother's family home. From Trinity College Cambridge, he went straight into the Civil Service as a House of Commons clerk, pursuing his first passion, for sailing, during the long parliamentary recesses. In 1899 he volunteered for service in the Boer War and wrote a popular account of his experiences, following this up in 1903 with The Riddle of the Sands. As a writer, he took up the cause of Irish Home Rule, and moved with his family to Ireland after distinguished service in the Royal Navy in the First World War. He was elected to the Dail, the Irish parliament, and was a delegate in the negotiations for the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1922. But the terms fell short of his hopes of full independence, and Childers joined the Republicans in the civil war that followed. He was arrested by the Free State government and court-martialled. He was executed by firing squad on 24 November 1922.

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    Reviews for The Riddle of the Sands

    3.5/5

    41 ratings29 reviews

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    • 4/5
      wish it wasn't abridged, but a classic
    • 4/5
      I remember the story seemed slow without a lot of action, but significant. The foreword about Erskine Childers' life and death was more interesting: Childers was an Englishman who supported independence for Ireland and was executed by the Irish.A quote:"But I did know something of Germany... I described her marvellous awakening in the last generation under the strength and wisdom of her rulers; her intense patriotic ardour; her seething industrial activity, and, most potent of all, the forces that are moulding modern Europe, her dream of a colonial empire, entailing her transformation from a land-power to a sea-power."
    • 4/5
      You know trying to pick out a book to read from the ocean that is available is tough. I heard about Erskine Childer's "The Riddle of the Sands" published in 1903 and I had to read it. The thing that piqued my interest is that it has been considered the first English spy novel and was an influence on Ian Fleming, John Le Carre, and Ken Follett. Also the book was very influential on the British public because he described the the vulnerability of Great Britain by an attack from Britain.. The thing that hooked it for me was that the author was executed by an Irish firing squad in 1922 for possession of a firearm in violation of martial law during Irish Civil War. It's all terribly complex and I refer you to Erskine Childer's Wikipedia page for reference.The book itself is marvelous. It is about two young guys in a sailing craft of shallow draft who while sailing along the German North Sea coast get more and more suspicious of what they see. The book is full of sailing references and chart entries, tides, currents, canals and such and it is easy to get lost but hang with it. The atmosphere and tension of the novel gets denser and darker as time goes on. The prose is dense and deep as I find books from the pre-television era are. I found the book to be the perfect combination of story and back story. I give it four stars out of five.
    • 4/5
      I have always felt the draw of the sea, the mystery that it encompasses, the excitement, and the spirit of indivual adventure. Childers' book is the perfect example of this, and maintains a great pace despite dedicating a lot of time to technical discussions of tides and yachting. But that's also part of the fascination. Like the best 'fish out of water' stories, we follow Carruthers as he becomes an able yachtsman, whilst Davies, the expert, guides him; if we had had two Davies the story would have been lacking.And what a story! A full ten years before war broke out in Europe, and here Childers warns of it. He wasn't alone amongst novelists of the time, but his arguments and reasoning are so well constructed that this simple espionage thriller becomes truly terrifying. Imagine the effect it would have had, if one had read it a century ago!
    • 2/5
      This classic adventure story with a strong nautical aspect was good in the parts where they were spying on the bad guys, but a lot of it is full of technical details about sailing and geography. It was hard for me to get into and follow that aspect of it so this was a struggle for me to read at times. It got more interesting when a love interest and a direct conflict with the villian occured toward the end of the book but it takes a lot of patience to get to that part.
    • 4/5
      This book has been called the 'first modern thriller' and is one of the first spy novels that uses masses of verifiable information and real locations, a style later used to great effect by some modern day giants of the thriller genre such as John Buchan, John le Carre and Ian Fleming (though Erskine Childers doesn't have quite as many women, cocktails or gunfights as Fleming).Anyway ... enough of the "wikipedia" introduction, though there is a reason for it. Wikipedia does mention that this book is one of the early 'Invasion Novels', a term I had not heard of before, a series of books published between 1871 and the time of World War 1 that all had in common England being invaded (often by Germany or a Germany thinly disguised as an 'un-named enemy'). Apparently this literary craze for tales of hypothetical invasions helped to shape politics, national policies and even the public's perceptions! In fact to continue the plagiarising it's also claimed that Winston Churchill credited Riddle of the Sands with the establishment of new naval bases to counter the invasion Erskine Childers wrote about. So you're not just reading a ripping yarn but also a piece of English naval history in the making.The story is about two friends sailing around the German coast, they discover something mysterious which piques their curiosity and, when they investigate, discover plans for a sea invasion of England. It is as much a story for sailors or people who enjoy reading about sailing (a sort of adult reminder of what it was like to read Swallows and Amazons perhaps), as there is a lot of nautical information, as it is a thriller. Though please do not let this put anyone off, the nautical side is not overwhelming and is so well written that you find yourself wishing to hire a boat and go out yourself to ride the high seas ... I've read this book a couple of times now and would still happily read it a third, the characters are well drawn and the plot is intriguing (even more so when you consider it could have actually happened).
    • 4/5
      Sailing classic! Carruthers, the narrator, depressed at being stuck in London whilst the social world of country house parties carries on without him accepts an invitation to go yachting with a an old University acquaintance. The clash between Carruthers' image of yachting (deck chairs, g&ts, snowy yachting trousers and caps, obsequious crew) and the reality of the small, grubby converted lifeboat that awaits him is hilarious! Then the story settles down to a tale of love and espionage and plenty of sailing in the tidal waters on the border of Germany and Holland. Love this book! Read up on the story of the author as well - just as dramatic!
    • 3/5
      Rather disappointing, the film was much better but book had an interesting thriller angle. The plot was a bit confusing initially, not always clear to the reader. A book l have always wanted to read though ?
    • 2/5
      This novel, published in 1902, is the most well known of a genre of spy fiction produced during the period of tension between Britain and Germany leading up to the First World War, when there were numerous exaggerated (though not wholly unfounded) fears of German spies infiltrating Britain and making it vulnerable to a German invasion. A basis for an exciting story, but unfortunately, in practice it left me cold and indeed I found it very dull. The two central English characters were uninteresting and I found them virtually interchangeable. The author's statement at the end about the perceived danger of German invasion is more interesting from a historical viewpoint. My kindle version came with some slightly odd illustrations of marginal relevance.
    • 4/5
      A bored young man employed at the British Foreign Office receives an invitation to join an old college acquaintance who is sailing along the Dutch and German coasts of the North Sea. Thinking he is departing for a cruise on a smallish yacht, he instead finds himself on a two-man converted lifeboat, helping his friend piece together why a mysterious captain recently tried to lead the friend into a shipwreck. Dubbed 'the first modern spy story', the Riddle of the Sands is a literate thriller. Childers loved his setting, and describes the mechanics of sailing and charting backbay channels in lavish detail. Despite that, and apart from a couple grossly racist idioms dropped in out of the blue, the book remains highly readable. Later scenes, when the heroes are fencing verbally with their opponents - neither side entirely sure of what the other knows, and unwilling to take violent action until they do -- offer real tension. The book ends somewhat abruptly. The only real complaint I have is that in my edition, the secret that drives the last third of the plot, and that is the reward for puzzling out the mystery, is revealed on the back cover. So, for this book, don't read the back cover first!
    • 4/5
      Meanders. Slow but otherwise interesting mostly sailing story with a little bit of espionage thrown in. Nowadays its probably of more interest fro its insights into 1900s life.Two young chaps (ie in their mid to late 20s) set off in a cramped 7m "yacht" (ie dingy) to sail around the sands and bays of the north german coastline - as it then was. On the way they bump (not literally) inot a few characters, whom they seem to see more often than chance would allow. Eventually their suspiciens are raised, (and with the lure of a beautiful daughter) they make an effort to find out more.All seems a bit stodgy. I'm unconvinced by either of the chaps as leading characters, nothign much really happens to them. There's a lot of tedious details about mudflats tidal sandbars and references to maps that I couldn'tbe bothered to look at. As an idea it was sort of impressive. I have no idea now, if Germany ever did have plans to invade england through the details specified, but it didn't seem an unreasonable proposition. Of historic interest only really, but readable enough.
    • 3/5
      Considered to be the first of the modern spy/espionage thriller genre, this book set prior to World War I, was purported to have given the British Admiralty a wake-up call about the vulnerability of England should the Germans wage a surprise attack and to take action to prevent that from happening.

      Davies, a young man with considerable sailing knowledge and love of the sea is convinced that while sailing near the German Frisian Islands, an attempt was made to kill him in order to stop Davies from charting the area. He sends a telegram to an old school friend, Carruthers, asking him to join him on a sail. Carruthers, who is also our narrator, is a pampered, egotistical young man working in the foreign office wondering what to do with his upcoming leave as all the important entertainments have already expired or moved on to other areas of the country. Thinking the invitation a chance to have a two week pleasure cruise, he hastily accepts, packs his sailing whites and races to the harbour to meet his friend. What he finds instead is a converted lifeboat and that the crew is to consist of himself and Davies. Thus the two young men set sail to the Baltic Sea and Frisian Islands to unravel the mystery. The friendship of the two young men grew as they learned to trust each other and work together in the hope of discovering the German’s secret before they were caught and arrested as spies. There is, of course, as required in all spy novels, a love interest who they also attempt to rescue. Although very mild according to modern day spy thrillers, this was still entertaining enough to keep my interest. I found all the nautical references hard to understand and a bit tiresome but overall this is a decent spy novel and can imagine that when first published in 1903 it created quite a sensation.
    • 4/5
      Childers seems to have had several agendas besides writing an entertaining adventure story: to write about messing about in small yachts, and to wake up England to the impending German threat. There were times, early in the book, where I wondered if I should continue. If I wasn't so interested in the genre partly inspired by this book I might not have.The novel is rather slow through much of the first half, getting by, to the extent that it does, with some mild humour derived from the heroes' personality clash. You could learn a few fundamental truths about how entertaining stories work by observing what went wrong here: the girl doesn't appear until half-way through, and then disappears for most of the rest of the story; the story is dependent on laboriously explained technicalities of tides, depths and geography, frequently resorting to 'look at the chart on page X' to explain what's going on; and the villains appear quite late in the story. It's not all bad, though. The details of small yachting are interesting, up to a point; there's an exciting 'race against time while navigating in the dark' sequence which I liked a lot; and the scenes where the heroes and villains subtly try to sound each other out without letting on how much they know about each other are very well done, easily the highlights of the novel.
    • 3/5
      I'm not quite sure what made me read this book, it's not really a genre I prefer. What is odd is that the entire time I was reading it I knew I should have been bored to tears, but somehow I wasn't - I just kept reading. I really don't know if I would recommend this book or not. Probably not?
    • 1/5
      Got nearly halfway and did not finish. Although this is a classic among spy novels, they have come a long way. Interesting for historical reasons only. Very slow-moving; I felt like I was trying to walk through molasses.
    • 5/5
      Carruthers, a young fop in the employ of the British Foreign Office, is feeling very sorry for himself, since he's missed the holidays by reason of being stuck at work. Suddenly, though, a friend from university invites him for a yachting cruise off the Frisian islands of Holland and Germany. After some comic misadventures in learning how to really work a boat, Carruthers and his friend Davies start to stumble upon a secret -- the Germans are up to no good in the fog-bound, sandy, shallow waters of the North Sea. But what? This very early, and highly successful, effort at thriller/espionage fiction rolls along quite briskly, and even the minutiae of sailing passes over quickly -- a lesson that probably could have been imparted to the late Tom Clancy and his ilk. There is a definite sense of time and place in the book; the only complaint I have is that Childers constantly sends the reader back to the maps at the front of the book, which in some cases aren't terribly helpful. The only minor point that prevents this from being a five-star recommendation.
    • 5/5
      a good period yarn,especially for those so like the sea.
    • 4/5
      The "first modern spy novel', the book was an interesting description of the north German coast. Much of the detail was hard to follow, but the conclusion became more and more obvious as the book progressed. An interesting book. Read April 2015.
    • 4/5
      One of the very first spy thrillers. Two English yachtsmen sailing around the Frisian Islands discover a German treasure salvage operation that might be a cover for something more nefarious. They make clandestine investigations so they can alert the Admiralty and Foreign Office. There are many superb feats of small boatsmanship.There was a pretty good movie version in 1979, with Michael York and Simon MacCorkindale.As interesting and exciting as this novel is, it’s nothing compared to the life of its author. Just read his Wikipedia page—totally bonkers. One tidbit: When he was (spoiler) being executed by the Irish Free State for the trumped-up charge of owning a pistol (a gift from Michael Collins), he made it a point to shake the hand of every man on the firing squad. His final words were, “Take a step or two forward, lads, it will be easier that way.”
    • 3/5
      A well written but, to my decidedly un-nautical eyes, a rather uneventful adventureless story. Whilst our dashing and stiff upper lipped heroes were vividly portrayed I found the villains of the piece blurring into one fiendish, Teutonically bearded mass. The plot does seem to rest on one wildly implausible coincidence and sadly, having finished the book a week ago, the denouement escapes my recall. I expected a little more daring do and a little less kedging the erm... sou'westly bowsprit?
    • 3/5
      One on level very boring, as little happens, certainly by modern spy thriller standards. But it is enjoyable enough once you relax into its stately rhythms and allow yourself to be drawn into a very specific world, namely sailing around the shallows of the German North Sea coast at the turn of the 20th century. The ultimate pay-off, however,is far too mild for my, perhaps too modern tastes (and is revealed in the cover blurb anyway).
    • 4/5
      The Riddle of the SandsErskine ChildersFebruary 28, 2011A Folio Edition. Written in 1903, at a time of tension between Britain and Germany. The story is a description of sailing journeys along Jutland and the Baltic, unraveling the mystery of suspicious activity of German spies and naval vessels, and ultimately discovering a plot to invade Britain using barges launched in secret from multiple small esturaries. The novel is a very good sailing yarn, written obviously by someone with great knowledge of small boat sailing. It is interesting that the author ended up hanged for carrying weapons during the Irish revolution.
    • 4/5
      Set before World War I, this enthralling novel pitches two amateur sailors, Davies and Carruthers, against the secret forces of mighty Germany. Powers of deduction and navigational skills prove equally important in uncovering a plot which threatens personal as well as national security. The book was responsible for the UK development of the naval base at Rosyth, as Davies gradually reveals that he suspects that the Germans are undertaking something sinister in the German Frisian islands. This book is said to be the first spy novel and was published in 1903. I enjoyed the book very much but since the author was a sailor the information about yachting was a bit too detailed. I would recommend this book to those who love yachting and spying.
    • 4/5
      Grandfather of all spy novels gets off to a slow start but leads to compelling finish. A must for mariners.
    • 4/5
      Fantastic tale of adventure in the vein of John Buchan but written with a considerable amount of style. There are some detailed nautical passages that may baffle a landsman but these account for a very small percentage of what is a compulsively-readable book.
    • 5/5
      A remarkable mix of Richard Hannay and Swallows and Amazons. A bored young Foreign Office clerk joins a former university friend who is sailing a small yacht (basically crewed only by himself) along the coasts of Denmark and Germany, investigating what ultimately turns out to be a German plan for a naval attack on Britain under the direction of the Kaiser himself --who is seen in this book (as in Rolfe's Hadrian VII) as a much more serious and capable leader than he turned out to be in the real World War I. The author was a clerk in the House of Commons, a British naval reserve officer in World War I, and then a leader of the Irish Republican Army who was shot by he Free Staters during the Irish Civil War.
    • 1/5
      I admit to basically giving up on this book. My biggest problem with reading the book itself was that I found it boring, badly paced and intensely repetitive.My larger criticism of the book is that Carruthers is provided with paltry motivations for joining with Davies and even weaker intellectual and emotional reasons for falling in with Davies' greater scheme. Much of Carruther's behaviour seemed to spring from a schoolboyish desire to be 'seen to be tough' and to 'not let the side down' leavened with a healthy lashing of unconscious homosocial fixation on Davies. By the half way point of the book I realized that I no longer cared (if I ever had) what happened to any of the characters in the book.I realize the important influence this book had on the development of the gritty/realistic spy/thriller but found it, on its own merit, near unreadable. Stripped of in historical importance I would have given up on it long before the midpoint of the story.
    • 3/5
      This novel, published in 1903, is of some literary and historical significance. It is generally regarded as the first spy novel establishing a template where the writer would produce verisimilitude by undertaking detailed research and setting out out the fruits of his labour in the book. More importantly, the novel was a significant propaganda tool for those in England who saw the rising Germany as a potential invader. The resulting naval arms race between the two countries was one of the causes of the First World War. Unfortunately, I found the book a bit of a struggle after the first hundred pages. I've never got on very well with books set on the sea - naval jargon seems to just float over my head. The plot is very much dependent on the reader playing close attention to the navigation of the yacht sailed by the two heroes around the channels and sand banks of Friesland. To do so, one has the carefully check the maps provided at the beginning of the book regularly. Unfortunately my edition of the book had terrible reproductions of the maps which made them virtually impossible to follow.When not at sea, I enjoyed the crisp narration and entertaining dialogue but being unable to properly understand the plot made reading the novel something of a chore.
    • 3/5
      I read this as book more as a chore than anything else - a chance to read the father of modern spy thrillers. It is overlong and requires/assumes a knowledge of sailing few landlubbers will comprehend. The language and attitudes reflect the early twentieth century in which it was written that seem very outmoded to us now. There is a certain something about this, though. The technical sailing descriptions and talk do push us into the time and place and the suspenseful lack of action and lack of outright villainy do keep us guessing about who is doing what, when and to whom.