Birdcage is about the machinations of a British intelligence agency, referred to as "Birdcage" because its offices are in Birdcage Walk in London. There is very little oversight of this covert security group and the agents are generally amoral, although they believe that their mission is important to the welfare of the country. In reality, the higher ups are just trying to protect the government in question which they serve blindly.
This story is set in Portugal, Gloucester, and London. A young nun leaves her Portuguese monastery, feeling that she has betrayed her vows. She attempts to drown herself in the sea but by some miracle is rescued at the last minute. The man who rescues her is a regular guy, easygoing and not ambitious.
We soon find out that the nun's real name is Sarah Branton, daughter of Lady Jean Branton, a former agent for the Birdcage group. Lady Jean is dead, but the Birdcage agents are keeping an eye on Sarah to make sure that she doesn't have damaging information about their group.
This is the fifth book in a very loose series about the Birdcage group. Especially in the first few books in the series, it is hard to see any connections between the books; there are no repeating characters for example. The tone is the same, and the department is unnamed in the early books. But as the series continues some of the agents feature in multiple books. However, my point here is that though I may be reading them as a series, they easily can be read as standalone books.
It only recently occurred to me that this series often has a psychological / romantic suspense plot running through it. In fitting with the espionage aspects of the story, the outcome of these romantic plots are entirely unpredictable; sometimes there is a happy, optimistic ending ... sometimes not. This one is even more obviously of that type, since Sarah Branton and the man who rescues her quickly develop a bond and a growing attraction to each other.
I enjoy the glimpses of nature, and especially birds, running through all the stories. The sense of place is very prominent. I think this might be distracting to some readers, but it is one of the elements that keeps me coming back for more. The stories in this series can be very dark.
Victor Canning is one of my favorite authors. He wrote a lot of books starting in the 1930s and through the 1980s, some general fiction, some children's fiction and some spy fiction. I have stuck with his spy fiction or mystery novels so far, but I want to try some of his general fiction too.
Today I was reading about Canning's life, and discovered that he was friends with Eric Ambler, another espionage author whose books I enjoy. This information was in a book by John Higgins, A Birdcage Companion. Per Higgins' website:
In 1940 he enlisted in the Army, and was sent for training with the Royal Artillery in Llandrindod Wells in mid-Wales, where he trained alongside his friend Eric Ambler. Both were commissioned as second lieutenants in 1941. We get a glimpse of Canning in those years from Eric Ambler's autobiography, Here Lies Eric Ambler.
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Publisher: Heinemann, 1978
Length: 233 pages
Format: Hardcover
Series: Birdcage books #3
Setting: Portugal and the UK
Genre: Espionage fiction
Source: Purchased in December, 2023.
8 comments:
Interesting how you've discovered the romance element a few books into it. The only series I have any experience with is the Slow Horses TV series and romance gets almost no attention after the first book.
I've read one of his books, Mr. Finchley Discovers his England. I actually had forgotten that VC wrote so many standalone books, I must look into a few as I like his writing.
I'm not familiar with this author and your review sounds intriguing, despite the fact I'm not usually drawn to anything remotely spy/intelligence related.
Hmm...I do like a strong sense of place in a story, Tracy. And in a way, I can see why these stories are only loosely connected. My guess is that spy agencies might operate that way, with few people know who else works/worked for the agency, etc. And it's good to hear that the romantic suspense angle doesn't always work out. That's how it is in real life, after all.
Your comments made me think about romance in other spy series I have read. Very interesting subject.
In this case each romance is specific to the events and secondary characters in each book and those characters are not usually even aware of the espionage part of the plot. The Doomsday Carrier, in which a chimpanzee has escaped from the facility where it had been infected with plague bacillus, is the only one I have read so far with no discernible romance involved.
Spy series I have read by Len Deighton, Charles McCarry, and Olen Steinhauer have all had a romance running through the story, but in those cases more in the background and involving continuing characters.
I haven't read any of Canning's books; and sadly, my library doesn't have any by him either. Guess I won't be reading this author any time soon.
Cath, I believe that Mr Finchley Discovers His England was the first novel he published and it did very well. I have that one as an ebook, as well as a couple of his other series books.
Lark, one of Canning's books, MR. FINCHLEY'S HOLIDAY. can be read online at UPenn's Online Books Page. And, for what it's worth, here's a link to the comic book adaptation of Canning's bestselling THE GOLDEN SALAMANDER, which was made into a film in 1949 with Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimee, and Herbert Lom: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72274
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