Review: The Spies of Warsaw

By Alan Furst

Random House Trade Publication

pp 226

Copyright 2008

I have, apparently, arrived late at the ‘celebrate Alan Furst’ party. But I am not going to let that deter me from sharing the book with other latecomers who might  appreciate Furst's exquisite historical treatment of Europe during the interwar years, 1918-1937.

I’m not sure when or how my fascination with the beginning of the 20th century began. I was close to my grandparents so I did hear stories of their lives but the stories were confined to individual and family occurrences not international or political intrigue. Like many young Austrian males, my Great -Grandpa had immigrated during WWI to escape Kaiser Wilhelm’s conscription. Great-Grandma’s family was among the thousands who fled Ireland during the potato famine. Having recently read the book, Defiance, and having watched the alternative history film produced  Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious  Basterds, it was with interest and curiosity that I discovered Alan Furst’s historical novel, The Spies of Warsaw.   The interwar years have always seemed a mystery to me and, certainly, I was not exposed to much of the history during this period in school.  So it seemed a deep dark hole for me and despite Furst’s books being historical novels, not non-fiction I have, as I have done many times in the past, used this historical treatment to search out other treatments that are more formally  historical in nature.

Centered in Warsaw during 1937, Furst’s historical novel deals with the activities of a French  military attaché, Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier de Boutillons. Injured in WWI and Mercier is assigned to the diplomatic corps in Warsaw Poland. Warsaw, up until this time, was considered the intellectual and cultural jewel of Eastern Europe. Born into an aristocratic class holding the title of chevalier or knight, the de Boutillon’s family estate in the south of France could be traced to the 1200’s.  So an assignment to the Warsaw station was considered a plum assignment for an injured officer hero. Furst very subtly avoids mentioning that one’s duties would include operating as a spy although the first section discusses spies and the activities of some current ones but it is not clearly revealed that Mercier was a part of this at first.

  The novel is a bit deceptive at first in that it really doesn’t seem all that much about Mercier’s position being viewed as a spy and, indeed, it was not a point brought up  in conversations with one other embassy attaches, never used the word spy.  So the first part of the novel is filled with wonderful details about the role of class that still existed, something I think Americans know little about. It is fascinating and revealing to see how the remaining vestiges of monarchy affect and is affected during these interwar years. Furst pays close attention to the geography since transportation is primarily by train giving Furst an opportunity to sketch in the various control and checkpoints managed by both Germans and Polish, often both at the same checkpoint.  While interesting I was left wanting to understand why the border patrol of two nations (Germany and France)  where being used as internal and external control for travel.  I think it reflects the position of Germans inside Poland in the respect that Hitler had been calling for national autonomy for Germans within other countries. Perhaps the ‘ownership’ of certain bureaucracies was a step in this direction.

Despite Furst providing an interest map in the front piece, I think the average reader’s knowledge of border crossings between and within Poland would be slight. The embassy provided  a 1936 8 cylinder Buick driven by Marek , a Polish national  who had served as a sergeant in Pilsudski’s  and  who insisted on calling the car a Biook. The big heavy duty Buick was used not only by the French but by the Japanese as well to manage Polish roads which could easily become impassible during the winter and rainy season. (pg. 44)

When the remaining spaces are filled in it becomes clear that spying was the dominant reason for any of them being there. It is at this point in the novel that tension begins to rise about whether or not Germany will attack Poland. Even without the threat of war, domestic relations in a newly partitioned Poland were tension filled.  The partition of Poland in 1918 left one million Germans in Poland and two million Poles in Germany (pg. 4) add to this a very real political division among embassy officials and the intelligence they obtained from spies supporting each side equally, ratchets up the tension even more.

What I found difficult as a reader to absorb is the casualness with which Mericer returns to his life in France, disappointed that his intelligence work had not been as well appreciated and put to use as he thought it should be. Perhaps it is a sign of the Hollywood times that most spying is dependent upon physical action rather than subterfuge, trickery, intellectual puzzles. One of my biggest disappoints with The Bourne series is that, increasingly, it came to rely on action as much or more as working out the puzzles.  Another minor quibble about the book is that I do not speak Polish and Furst uses a fair amount of Polish words. A small glossary at the back would have been nice.  Treat yourself to a good read!