Welcome to Part Two of The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie, our latest audio adventure in Tales for Our Time and set amidst Bolshevik intrigue on the streets of London. Steyn Club listeners are glad to have another full-length serialisation as their audio Ovaltine every night. Colorado member Paul Cathey writes:
Oh Frabjous Joy, another novel! Thank you, Mark. it really has been a long dry spell, with all of us praying and pulling for you to survive, to say nothing of regaining some equilibrium in your life. It's wonderful that you feel up to this and I hope it marks a significant gain in your recovery.
Me too, Paul. First Week Founding Member Allison Coates commends the choice of adventure:
Delighted to hear Secret Adversary! As a young girl I loved Tommy and Tuppence (who wouldn't love Francesca Annis) and can't wait to hear Mark tell this tale. Glad you are feeling up to it, Mark. Every bit of normalcy and of art is appreciated.
No argument from me re Francesca Annis - although James Warwick is also excellent, as I had the pleasure of telling him in some showbizzy West End restaurant half-a-lifetime ago. Sue Sims, a First Month Founding Member from an English seaside town that features in this very tale, is also on board:
Ah, nostalgia! This was the first Christie I ever read. I was ten, and my enterprising primary school organised a week-long trip to Belgium and Holland (as we used to call it). I ran out of books to read after a few days, and borrowed from the other children, one of whom had brought The Secret Adversary - thus beginning a love affair with Christie that continues to this day, over sixty years later. Thank you for a brilliant introduction and (as always) superb voice narrative.
Thank you, Sue. I notice our chum Eva Vlaardingerbroek says "Holland" a lot, so by all means, go ahead.
In tonight's episode, Miss Cowley finds herself summoned to an office in the City:
There was a lift, but Tuppence chose to walk up.
Slightly out of breath, she came to a halt outside the ground glass door with the legend painted across it "Esthonia Glassware Co."
At this point - 1921 - Estonia was a newly independent state, having inflicted military defeats on both Russia and Germany, and been accepted as a member of the League of Nations. The country has quite a reputation for glassware, as the several Estonian members of The Mark Steyn Club would be glad to confirm. But in this particular Esthonia Glassware Co the proprietor's attention lies elsewhere:
"Yes," continued Whittington. "What could be more delightful? To put the clock back a few years—a very few, I am sure—and re-enter one of those charming pensionnats de jeunes filles with which Paris abounds——"
Tuppence interrupted him.
"A pensionnat?"
"Exactly. Madame Colombier's in the Avenue de Neuilly."
Tuppence knew the name well. Nothing could have been more select. She had had several American friends there. She was more than ever puzzled.
"You want me to go to Madame Colombier's?"
To hear me read the second episode of The Secret Adversary, please click here and log-in. If you missed Part One, you'll find that here.
~If you seek alternative dystopias to the world after the Great War, do check out our brace of Orwellian adaptations - Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four - or even a contemporary inversion of a classic, retooled for our wretched times, by yours truly. Whatever your taste, we have plenty of other yarns in all genres over on our Tales for Our Time home page.
Tales for Our Time started as an experimental feature we introduced as a bonus for Mark Steyn Club members, and, as you know, I said if it was a total stinkeroo, we'd eighty-six the thing and speak no more about it. But I'm thrilled to say it's proved very popular, and and we now have quite an archive. If you're a Club member and you incline more to the stinkeroo side of things, give it your best in the Comments Section below.
We launched The Mark Steyn Club well almost seven years ago, and I'm truly grateful to all those members across the globe who've signed up to be a part of it - from Fargo to Fiji, Vancouver to Vanuatu, Cook County to the Cook Islands, West Virginia to the West Midlands. If you've enjoyed our monthly Steyn Club audio adventures and you're looking for a present for a fellow fan of classic fiction, I hope you'll consider our special Club Gift Membership. Aside from Tales for Our Time, The Mark Steyn Club does come with other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly, such as this coming Wednesday's;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Mark's Mailbox, and our other video content;
~My video series of classic poetry;
~Booking for special members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show (assuming I'm ever healthy enough for such extravaganzas);
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world (likewise);
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and don't forget that special Gift Membership. As soon as you join, you'll get access not only to The Secret Adversary but to all our other audio adventures.
