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The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars
One of the biggest bestsellers of all time, and one of the first and most influential spy novels of the twentieth century, is back in print for the first time since 1948
Alan Furst fans will note that train passengers in his bestselling thrillers are often observed reading The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars. It’s a smart detail: First published in 1927, the book was one of the twentieth century’s first massive bestsellers, selling over 15 million copies worldwide.
It’s the story of two tremendously charming characters who embark on a glamorous adventure on the Orient Express—and find themselves on a thrilling ride across Europe and into the just-barely unveiled territories of psychoanalysis and revolutionary socialism.
Gerard Seliman—technically, a Prince—is so discouraged by the demise of his marriage that he flees to London to become the personal assistant of a glamorous member of the British peerage, Lady Diana Wyndham. But he soon finds himself involved in a wild scheme by Lady Diana to save herself from looming financial ruin while simultaneously fending off rich lotharios. At the center of it all: a plan to rescue her rights to a Russian oil field now under the control of revolutionaries who don’t like capitalists.
The book that set the standard for intellectual thrillers of political and social intrigue, The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars, with its jetsetting and witty protagonists, is still as fresh a page-turner as ever—and as fun.
Alan Furst fans will note that train passengers in his bestselling thrillers are often observed reading The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars. It’s a smart detail: First published in 1927, the book was one of the twentieth century’s first massive bestsellers, selling over 15 million copies worldwide.
It’s the story of two tremendously charming characters who embark on a glamorous adventure on the Orient Express—and find themselves on a thrilling ride across Europe and into the just-barely unveiled territories of psychoanalysis and revolutionary socialism.
Gerard Seliman—technically, a Prince—is so discouraged by the demise of his marriage that he flees to London to become the personal assistant of a glamorous member of the British peerage, Lady Diana Wyndham. But he soon finds himself involved in a wild scheme by Lady Diana to save herself from looming financial ruin while simultaneously fending off rich lotharios. At the center of it all: a plan to rescue her rights to a Russian oil field now under the control of revolutionaries who don’t like capitalists.
The book that set the standard for intellectual thrillers of political and social intrigue, The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars, with its jetsetting and witty protagonists, is still as fresh a page-turner as ever—and as fun.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1925
19 people are currently reading
659 people want to read
About the author
Maurice Dekobra
126 books13 followersBorn Maurice Tessier in Paris in 1885, he adopted the pseudonymn of Maurice Dekobra, which he used to write his novels, in 1908. His works began with romantic fiction and went on to become whodunnits.
He studied in France and Germany and he spoke three languages, French, English and German and began his career as a tri-lingual journalist at the age of 19. His first novel, Les Memoires de Rat-de-Cave, was published in 1912.
He moved to America as a young man but on returning to France his novel 'La madone des sleepings' (1925), English title 'Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' was translated into thirty languages, sold more than a million copies and made him a celebrity author.
He visited America again and met such celebrities as Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, and Charlie Chaplin.
He eventually decided to live in America and did so from 1939 to 1946 and it was on his return to France after the Second World War had ended that he began to write whodunnits.
He was one of France's best known writers in the period between the two world wars and an adjective, Dekobrisme was coined from his fictional style that used a journalist and realist technique to tell the tale. More than 15 of his works were made into films with 'The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' making it to the screen twice, in 1928 and again in 1955.
All the time he was writing he continued to travel, visiting such places as India, Ceylon (modern day Sri-Lanka), Japan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Nepal, where he was one of the first westerners to be welcomed.
He wrote more than 35 novels from 1912 through to 1960 and they have been translated into 77 languages and have sold many millions of copies. And in addition he turned his hand to screen writing and even did a little screen directing.
In 1951 his novel 'Operation Magali' won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres literary award (founded 1946), awarded for the best roman policier, or detective novel of the year.
He died in 1973 and in his native land and in Europe generally he is still regarded as an author of great renown but elsewhere he is nowadays little known.
Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011
He studied in France and Germany and he spoke three languages, French, English and German and began his career as a tri-lingual journalist at the age of 19. His first novel, Les Memoires de Rat-de-Cave, was published in 1912.
He moved to America as a young man but on returning to France his novel 'La madone des sleepings' (1925), English title 'Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' was translated into thirty languages, sold more than a million copies and made him a celebrity author.
He visited America again and met such celebrities as Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, and Charlie Chaplin.
He eventually decided to live in America and did so from 1939 to 1946 and it was on his return to France after the Second World War had ended that he began to write whodunnits.
He was one of France's best known writers in the period between the two world wars and an adjective, Dekobrisme was coined from his fictional style that used a journalist and realist technique to tell the tale. More than 15 of his works were made into films with 'The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' making it to the screen twice, in 1928 and again in 1955.
All the time he was writing he continued to travel, visiting such places as India, Ceylon (modern day Sri-Lanka), Japan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Nepal, where he was one of the first westerners to be welcomed.
He wrote more than 35 novels from 1912 through to 1960 and they have been translated into 77 languages and have sold many millions of copies. And in addition he turned his hand to screen writing and even did a little screen directing.
In 1951 his novel 'Operation Magali' won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres literary award (founded 1946), awarded for the best roman policier, or detective novel of the year.
He died in 1973 and in his native land and in Europe generally he is still regarded as an author of great renown but elsewhere he is nowadays little known.
Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011
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October 20, 2018
Un rápido vistazo a las primeras páginas de La Madona de los coches cama aporta pruebas más que suficientes para entender la demoledora repercusión que obtuvo este libro en el momento de su nacimiento. Al fin y al cabo, no todas las novelas abren con su desinhibida protagonista procurando alcanzar el orgasmo en la consulta de un estupefacto psiquiatra. Publicada originalmente en 1925, y después de convertirse en un imbatible bestseller que reportó a su autor popularidad a nivel internacional, la desternillante obra de Maurice Dekobra (París, 1885) ha permanecido agazapada en un discreto tercer o cuarto plano hasta que Impedimenta ha decidido, con muy buen criterio, rescatarla del olvido.
La Madona de los coches cama es, sin ningún género de duda, una de las novelas más hilarantes y descaradas que he leído en mucho tiempo. Su protagonista, lady Diana Wynham, es una despampanante aristócrata escocesa —viuda de un diplomático que hizo fortuna en el negocio del petróleo— cuya mayor satisfacción consiste en escandalizar a la sociedad de su época y protagonizar todo tipo de pervertidas habladurías. Consciente de su incomparable atractivo erótico, Diana abraza su sexualidad con una naturalidad sin precedentes, brincando de cama en cama y dilapidando sin miramientos el remanente de su menguante patrimonio.
A su lado permanece, a modo de leal mandatario, el príncipe Gérard Séliman, un caballero e infalible seductor que vela por el bienestar de Diana de manera, por increíble que parezca, totalmente altruista. Obligado a escapar de Estados Unidos tras conocerse que mantenía una relación adúltera con sus propia hijastra, Séliman se dedica ahora a beber los vientos por lady Wynham, a la que no se atreve a conquistar por temor a corromper los nobles términos de su relación laboral. Sabedora de su precaria y desesperada situación financiera, lady Wynham urde un descabellado plan para adquirir un campo de pozos petrolíferos —propiedad de su difunto marido— que yace ahora en poder de los bolcheviques soviéticos. Junto al inseparable Séliman, ambos se embarcarán en una descacharrante aventura por media Europa, plagada de espías, revolucionarios sin escrúpulos y amantes despechadas.
A través de un estilo pomposo y exacerbado que casa tremendamente bien con el tono de la novela, Maurice Dekobra elabora en La Madona de los coches cama una historia tan fascinante como impredecible en la que se percibe, bajo ese pretendido humor desenfadado, el escepticismo ideológico del autor ante el surgimiento de la imparable maquinaria comunista. Dekobra reflexiona sobre totalitarismos y diferencias de clase con la socarronería que le caracteriza, pero sin perder ni un ápice de contundencia. La frivolidad recalcitrante de Lady Wynham, así como el romanticismo indiscriminado de Séliman, vertebran la vertiente cómica de una novela que no da la espalda a los episodios más truculentos del período de entreguerras. Concisa, certera y sin ramificaciones innecesarias, esta sensacional novela de Maurice Dekobra evidencia un magistral manejo del hilo narrativo, así como del suspense que lo mantiene vivo desde su planteamiento hasta su frenética conclusión.
La Madona de los coches cama es, sin ningún género de duda, una de las novelas más hilarantes y descaradas que he leído en mucho tiempo. Su protagonista, lady Diana Wynham, es una despampanante aristócrata escocesa —viuda de un diplomático que hizo fortuna en el negocio del petróleo— cuya mayor satisfacción consiste en escandalizar a la sociedad de su época y protagonizar todo tipo de pervertidas habladurías. Consciente de su incomparable atractivo erótico, Diana abraza su sexualidad con una naturalidad sin precedentes, brincando de cama en cama y dilapidando sin miramientos el remanente de su menguante patrimonio.
A su lado permanece, a modo de leal mandatario, el príncipe Gérard Séliman, un caballero e infalible seductor que vela por el bienestar de Diana de manera, por increíble que parezca, totalmente altruista. Obligado a escapar de Estados Unidos tras conocerse que mantenía una relación adúltera con sus propia hijastra, Séliman se dedica ahora a beber los vientos por lady Wynham, a la que no se atreve a conquistar por temor a corromper los nobles términos de su relación laboral. Sabedora de su precaria y desesperada situación financiera, lady Wynham urde un descabellado plan para adquirir un campo de pozos petrolíferos —propiedad de su difunto marido— que yace ahora en poder de los bolcheviques soviéticos. Junto al inseparable Séliman, ambos se embarcarán en una descacharrante aventura por media Europa, plagada de espías, revolucionarios sin escrúpulos y amantes despechadas.
A través de un estilo pomposo y exacerbado que casa tremendamente bien con el tono de la novela, Maurice Dekobra elabora en La Madona de los coches cama una historia tan fascinante como impredecible en la que se percibe, bajo ese pretendido humor desenfadado, el escepticismo ideológico del autor ante el surgimiento de la imparable maquinaria comunista. Dekobra reflexiona sobre totalitarismos y diferencias de clase con la socarronería que le caracteriza, pero sin perder ni un ápice de contundencia. La frivolidad recalcitrante de Lady Wynham, así como el romanticismo indiscriminado de Séliman, vertebran la vertiente cómica de una novela que no da la espalda a los episodios más truculentos del período de entreguerras. Concisa, certera y sin ramificaciones innecesarias, esta sensacional novela de Maurice Dekobra evidencia un magistral manejo del hilo narrativo, así como del suspense que lo mantiene vivo desde su planteamiento hasta su frenética conclusión.
June 20, 2018
When looking over at Amazon to find books that were made into movies I have seen over the years, I was introduced to Maurice Dekobra's The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars. I was looking for the book based on Hitchcock's movie Foreign Correspondent & thought I had found the book but it was modern author Alan Furst's novel by the same name. The book based on the movie was "Personal History" by Vincent Sheean which is not available in Kindle format. Furst had touted Dekobra's novel & it being a best seller of it time (1925), it sound like an interesting read. His female characters exhibit a strength & dominance. Dekobra was a Frenchman who was a journalist as well as a novelist. What I find enthralling is reading a book about Germany's Weimar Republic (1919-1933) pre Adolf Hitler & Stalin's Russia (Communist Russia) through the eyes of someone living in those times. Where the Reichsmark was necessary due to Germany's inflation, ladies of the evening & debauchery were on the rise. This story is about Lady Diana Wynham (The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars) a free spirited widow & her quest to drill for oil on her bequeathed property in the USSR Caucasus. With the help of her secretary scandal ridden Prince Gerald Seliman, Lady Diana devise a plan if it does not succeed she is ruined. While in Germany they come to talk to the Communist leader in Berlin, Leonid Varichkine & his female associate. This is a different kind of spy thriller were personal vendetta is the game & death are at high stakes. The Soviet system is seen for the horror it was for anyone that the is in its grasp that is targeted. Excerpts-About the author- "The publication of The Maddona of the Sleeping Cars in 1925 was an international success; the book was translated into thirty languages and sold million of copies. It was banned in Boston and the New York Times dubbed him "the biggest seller of any living French writer- or dead one either.""He nodded. "For eight years that same charming Madam Mouravieff has been Varichkine's official mistress. She inspires him. She directs him. She terrorizes him. Ah, my dear boy, that Irina Mouravieff is an extraordinary woman. She is one of those enlightened individuals who can conceive of human happiness by the way of machine-gun bullets and who sends the people who contradict her to do a little bit of uninterrupted meditation in the ice-fields of Solovki.""Only the thick- headed logicians are astonished to find that there is an elite society in a country where everything is equal. But I must say that there are very few in the party to which I have the honor to belong. You can count them on the fingers of one hand:""Most assuredly! And as anyone who is accused of counter-revolution, even if there is no proof, is automatically condemned to death, those innocent people end up in the dungeons of the Loubianka. But all that is of no importance for it is better to shoot ten innocent people than to let one dangerous agitator escape.""Do you really believe that tyrants are born into the world just like musicians or taxpayers? After all, what does the cruelty of tyrants signify? It is but a manifestation of the instinct of self- preservation, nothing more nor less. A harmless piece of flesh and bone, forced by destiny to command a million individuals who hate him, is bound to be a perfect Caligua.""Just a man cursed with an education, valueless to the new regime, a superfluous being who has been conquered in the unfair battle between brute force and brain power."My next read Colette's The Vagabond
March 20, 2017
3 1/2
Amazing to think that this was a best-seller in its day, if only because it does not seem to fit into any one genre. To me it is a blend of:
-light-hearted escapades of the very British and very rich (ala Jeeves and Wooster)
-international espionage with sex (ala James Bond)
-critique of Communism (ala Orwell)
-the plight of the woman who depends on men for wealth (ala Edith Wharton)
Our narrator is a suave Frenchman with a heart of gold. Like James Bond, he loves women and does well with them; unlike James Bond, he is a human with feelings and also respects women as people more than he desires bedding them.
Given the current political news, it was very peculiar to read a book set in the mid 1920s having a plot centered on Russia, corruption, and oil, and even more peculiar to be rooting for the obscenely rich noble main characters.
The book is good read, that was equal parts frothy and dark. I enjoyed it.
Also, the main author changed his name to DeKobra because he really liked cobras, so that's pretty badass.
Amazing to think that this was a best-seller in its day, if only because it does not seem to fit into any one genre. To me it is a blend of:
-light-hearted escapades of the very British and very rich (ala Jeeves and Wooster)
-international espionage with sex (ala James Bond)
-critique of Communism (ala Orwell)
-the plight of the woman who depends on men for wealth (ala Edith Wharton)
Our narrator is a suave Frenchman with a heart of gold. Like James Bond, he loves women and does well with them; unlike James Bond, he is a human with feelings and also respects women as people more than he desires bedding them.
Given the current political news, it was very peculiar to read a book set in the mid 1920s having a plot centered on Russia, corruption, and oil, and even more peculiar to be rooting for the obscenely rich noble main characters.
The book is good read, that was equal parts frothy and dark. I enjoyed it.
Also, the main author changed his name to DeKobra because he really liked cobras, so that's pretty badass.
March 9, 2021
It was curiosity more than anything else that made me buy this book. Curiosity as to what it was that made this book so immensely popular in the mid 20s (this is a reprint of that work as translated by the French (real name Maurice Tessier) author’s American friend Neil Wainwright (so expect American punctuation and spellings!) to whom the book is dedicated. At worst, I thought it might simply be a frivolous pastime, but it was curiosity that was foremost in my mind.
There are four main characters: the aristocratic Westerners Lady Diana Wynham and her secretary Prince Gerard Séliman (who is the “author” of the book — and so it represents his take on the characters and their attitudes) and the Russian Communists Leonid Varichkine and his partner Irina Mouravieff. The writing and dialogue is florid (even “awful” by modern standards) and stylistically quirky, but it is not difficult to become used to it. Somehow it also seems “appropriate” as the type of writing one would expect the character Séliman might use; but of course, it is Dekobra’s style, and it represents a fascinating mix (aka dekobrisme at the time) of the author’s first-hand experience of the places and events described, and the fictional elements of the narrative.
On a certain level there is a certain spying quality that propels the narrative; but the more intriguing aspect is the complex interplay between the four main characters. The setting (in the mid-1920s) provides the political background (the Capitalist Aristocracy and their overwhelming fear of the consequences of the Communist Russian Revolution). Dekobra’s style allows him to present unflinching descriptions of both political sides: Wyndham and Séliman provide prescient condemnations of the Communists and Communism, while Varichnike and Mouravieff provide the equally incisive biting criticisms of the Aristocratic, Capitalistic melieu. Given the immense popularity of the book, one cannot help but wonder how much its pro-Western sentiments might have contributed in shaping the West’s virulent anti-Communist phobias prevalent both during World War II (especially among our political and religious leaders) and particularly throughout the Cold War period.
At the end of the book there is an Afterword written in 2012 by René Steinke. Among other things, it interprets the book from the point of view of its depiction of the New 20th century Woman as typified by the two central women in the book, the outrageous Lady Diana Wynham (the ‘Madonna of the Sleeping Cars’) and the terrifying Irina Mouravieff (the ‘Marquise de Sade of Red Russia’).
Indeed, the characters of the two women are perhaps the most potent aspect of this novel: both represent a kind of freed or emancipated woman; and both are presented as both wonderful and terrifying in their own ways. Both are ruthless, cruel, heartless and fearless — and while Séliman’s overwhelming preference is for Lady Diana, one can also detect a sneaking admiration for Irina. The men are presented almost as peripheral actors, to be used by the women for their particular ends and purposes, and with not too many other redeeming qualities. As to which of the two women protagonists is the most monstrous, I will leave that to the individual reader to determine…
Overall, a most enjoyable read.
There are four main characters: the aristocratic Westerners Lady Diana Wynham and her secretary Prince Gerard Séliman (who is the “author” of the book — and so it represents his take on the characters and their attitudes) and the Russian Communists Leonid Varichkine and his partner Irina Mouravieff. The writing and dialogue is florid (even “awful” by modern standards) and stylistically quirky, but it is not difficult to become used to it. Somehow it also seems “appropriate” as the type of writing one would expect the character Séliman might use; but of course, it is Dekobra’s style, and it represents a fascinating mix (aka dekobrisme at the time) of the author’s first-hand experience of the places and events described, and the fictional elements of the narrative.
On a certain level there is a certain spying quality that propels the narrative; but the more intriguing aspect is the complex interplay between the four main characters. The setting (in the mid-1920s) provides the political background (the Capitalist Aristocracy and their overwhelming fear of the consequences of the Communist Russian Revolution). Dekobra’s style allows him to present unflinching descriptions of both political sides: Wyndham and Séliman provide prescient condemnations of the Communists and Communism, while Varichnike and Mouravieff provide the equally incisive biting criticisms of the Aristocratic, Capitalistic melieu. Given the immense popularity of the book, one cannot help but wonder how much its pro-Western sentiments might have contributed in shaping the West’s virulent anti-Communist phobias prevalent both during World War II (especially among our political and religious leaders) and particularly throughout the Cold War period.
At the end of the book there is an Afterword written in 2012 by René Steinke. Among other things, it interprets the book from the point of view of its depiction of the New 20th century Woman as typified by the two central women in the book, the outrageous Lady Diana Wynham (the ‘Madonna of the Sleeping Cars’) and the terrifying Irina Mouravieff (the ‘Marquise de Sade of Red Russia’).
Indeed, the characters of the two women are perhaps the most potent aspect of this novel: both represent a kind of freed or emancipated woman; and both are presented as both wonderful and terrifying in their own ways. Both are ruthless, cruel, heartless and fearless — and while Séliman’s overwhelming preference is for Lady Diana, one can also detect a sneaking admiration for Irina. The men are presented almost as peripheral actors, to be used by the women for their particular ends and purposes, and with not too many other redeeming qualities. As to which of the two women protagonists is the most monstrous, I will leave that to the individual reader to determine…
Overall, a most enjoyable read.
January 29, 2019
Para haber salido de mi zona de comfort con este libro, la experiencia no ha ido tan mal como habría esperado. Ha sido una lectura muy amena y ligera de leer, con dosis de humor, espionaje, revelaciones, viajes y algún que otro secreto y chanchullo.
Como una obra de Scott Fitzgerald pero más tirando por lo rococó y con espias rusos
Como una obra de Scott Fitzgerald pero más tirando por lo rococó y con espias rusos
March 19, 2025
Entretenido y ameno
November 30, 2014
I was slogging my way through a couple of books that didn't fully have my attention when I rebelled, and scoured my shelves for something more engaging. I don't think I've read a "spy novel" since college (or maybe high school), but I trust Neversink Library, so I ended up opening The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars.
As usual, I was not disappointed. Well, I was a little disappointed that "The Madonna" didn't turn out to be the spy, nor even really the star of her own book, but what the book is instead was delightful and compulsively readable.
Then again, despite the fact that the narrator of the story is Prince Gerard Seliman (yes, I'm too lazy to figure out how to do the accent right now), Lady Diana's (The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars) secretary, Gerard seems a bit hapless, an old fashioned gentleman at the whims of the actual actors of the story -- all women: Lady Diana herself, a ruined capitalist in search of a new fortune, Madame Mouravieff, the terrifyingly ruthless agent of the relatively new Soviet regime, and finally, his estranged wife, Princess Seliman, flitting around on a yacht, nursing her broken heart.
Seliman may not be a spy, but there is at least one spy (another woman!) in this novel of subterfuge, cynical grabs at power, prison, executions, and a good deal of international travel.
This book was one of the biggest bestsellers of all time, and despite the sometimes old-fashioned writing, it's still easy to see why.
As usual, I was not disappointed. Well, I was a little disappointed that "The Madonna" didn't turn out to be the spy, nor even really the star of her own book, but what the book is instead was delightful and compulsively readable.
Then again, despite the fact that the narrator of the story is Prince Gerard Seliman (yes, I'm too lazy to figure out how to do the accent right now), Lady Diana's (The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars) secretary, Gerard seems a bit hapless, an old fashioned gentleman at the whims of the actual actors of the story -- all women: Lady Diana herself, a ruined capitalist in search of a new fortune, Madame Mouravieff, the terrifyingly ruthless agent of the relatively new Soviet regime, and finally, his estranged wife, Princess Seliman, flitting around on a yacht, nursing her broken heart.
Seliman may not be a spy, but there is at least one spy (another woman!) in this novel of subterfuge, cynical grabs at power, prison, executions, and a good deal of international travel.
This book was one of the biggest bestsellers of all time, and despite the sometimes old-fashioned writing, it's still easy to see why.
May 7, 2017
This is the first book I've read in the Neversink series where I thought, upon finishing it, "Why?"
Why republish this, why think it deserves a broader modern audience? This might have been relatively intriguing in its time (the free-loving heroine, the jabs at Communism, the relatively open acceptance of pre, post, and intra-marital sex) but, unlike the books by Keun and Horvath, even the Strugatskys, that Melville House has previously published as part of this imprint, this little picaresque piece holds nothing but historical value. It's a curiousity rather than a literary find-poorly written, tediously plotted, and terribly obvious. I can't recommend it to anyone but completist collectors of this series.
Why republish this, why think it deserves a broader modern audience? This might have been relatively intriguing in its time (the free-loving heroine, the jabs at Communism, the relatively open acceptance of pre, post, and intra-marital sex) but, unlike the books by Keun and Horvath, even the Strugatskys, that Melville House has previously published as part of this imprint, this little picaresque piece holds nothing but historical value. It's a curiousity rather than a literary find-poorly written, tediously plotted, and terribly obvious. I can't recommend it to anyone but completist collectors of this series.
December 8, 2011
Un des plus beaux succès littéraires des années 20. On pense à Nancy Mitford ou Evelyn Waugh pour le rythme endiablé de l'intrigue, les personnages extravagants, la satire et la verve ironique mais aussi à la grande tradition du roman d'aventure, avec rebondissements et révélations à la clef. Un roman fin, merveilleusement bien écrit et qui se trouve être aussi un divertissement de premier choix. :)
October 20, 2018
Ligero y entretenido, recrea a la perfección la alta sociedad británica-europea tras la Primera Guerra Mundial. Mucho glamour y encanto, y unos revolucionarios rusos de traca.
No me ha parecido gran cosa el argumento, pero reconozco que está bien escrita y se lee muy fácil.
No me ha parecido gran cosa el argumento, pero reconozco que está bien escrita y se lee muy fácil.
June 18, 2013
Overwrought and antiquated, with Soviets as cartoon villains.
July 18, 2020
A superbly poetic book. I can see why people go back to it now and again for a reread. Its prose alone evokes the best of Fitzgerald (I know the latter is American but his style is the closest I can think of).
Precious little time is actually spent on the Orient Express, or any train for that matter (or is described only fleetingly), which was the primary reason I took up this book! Other than that, the plot felt a bit small and short--few characters and few, but harrowing, series of events.
That said, this is a truly excellent classic thriller. Lady Wyndham is a fascinating and inspiring character, as many have noted, and Prince Seliman is a singularly noble model!
Precious little time is actually spent on the Orient Express, or any train for that matter (or is described only fleetingly), which was the primary reason I took up this book! Other than that, the plot felt a bit small and short--few characters and few, but harrowing, series of events.
That said, this is a truly excellent classic thriller. Lady Wyndham is a fascinating and inspiring character, as many have noted, and Prince Seliman is a singularly noble model!
April 9, 2013
It was a fairly light read, depending on how much you wanted to get into it. I went into it with the false expectation that it was going to be a simple action thriller, being a Spy novel. It turned out to be constructed more like a pastry than in inverted spyglass; sweet and flexible in interpretation. I got about as much of it as I put in, only to realise with sadness at the end that the things that made it more than worthwhile - the political historical references, the women's liberation themes, and the close-up examination of 20s high society, were ignored by me for most of the time, which was a crying shame because the novel focussed on these.
The narrator is a bit of a bumbling character with too much naivety for any real confrontation, and it's due to him that the character gains its light flavour. With Prince Seliman around, nothing too bad can happen; it'd be beyond his comprehension. The author seems to make a point of contrasting him with the women he encounters, more mighty, knowledgeable and daring than him, although I felt the real finale was achieved by another man, one assumed incompetent up till that point, by shooting the icy Irina Mouravieff dead, the only real action we get. Of course, it ends with the Madonna setting forth to find a new life, but only to find a husband in six months. I personally felt let down by the novel's ending, which was meant to be mysterious and free-will-y, but only turned out to be another wealth/man-seeking expedition. Then again, this novel wasn't perfect but enjoyable; I'd have liked to give it 3.5 stars for what it aspired to.
The narrator is a bit of a bumbling character with too much naivety for any real confrontation, and it's due to him that the character gains its light flavour. With Prince Seliman around, nothing too bad can happen; it'd be beyond his comprehension. The author seems to make a point of contrasting him with the women he encounters, more mighty, knowledgeable and daring than him, although I felt the real finale was achieved by another man, one assumed incompetent up till that point, by shooting the icy Irina Mouravieff dead, the only real action we get. Of course, it ends with the Madonna setting forth to find a new life, but only to find a husband in six months. I personally felt let down by the novel's ending, which was meant to be mysterious and free-will-y, but only turned out to be another wealth/man-seeking expedition. Then again, this novel wasn't perfect but enjoyable; I'd have liked to give it 3.5 stars for what it aspired to.
March 24, 2019
Libro clave para entender la Europa de entreguerras y extrapolable a la situación política actual. Muchos nos quejamos de que la izquierda ha abandonado las reivindicaciones de la clase obrera. Uno de los personajes de la obra describe a un "revolucionario que no ha manejado nunca ni una hoz ni un martillo". Envuelta de humor, frivolidad y espionaje, esta obra describe el desencanto de una época a la que acechaba peligrosamente el fascismo.
November 28, 2022
Written and published in 1925 by Maurice Dekobra, one of the most successful French novelist of the time, and translated for the English-language reader by Neal Wainwright in 1927, 'La Madone des Sleepings' is said to have been translated to over 30 languages and sold over 15 million copies worldwide—a record that cemented Dekobra's reputation as one of the 20th century's first massive bestsellers.
It was also during those interwar years when the concept of the "New Women" began to emerge. Popular press of the time defined the term as a feminist ideal that represented “a contemporary, modern understanding of femininity, one that emphasised youth, visibility, and mobility as well as a demand for greater freedom and independence" that held a profound influence well into the 20th century. Once coined, it brought about "an era that thrilled and terrified men and women to see what a woman might do—or be—next."
As René Steinke observes in the afterword of the 2012 reprinted edition: "There were endless debates about what a woman could do and couldn’t do, and should do and shouldn’t do, and what can only be described as a kind of mania for defining the New Woman, who refused to be defined.
The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars ingeniously seizes on the unknowability of the New Woman and translates the fear and giddiness surrounding her into a story of international intrigue.
[As] one of the first popular spy novels based on international intrigue and sophisticated travel, [it] is the women who, literally make the story move."
As a modern reader, I thoroughly enjoyed Dekobra's method of employing journalistic components within his work of fiction where he peppers the narrative with a light yet astute commentary of the political clime of the period through the emancipation of his female characters—making his work terrifically contemporary.
It was also during those interwar years when the concept of the "New Women" began to emerge. Popular press of the time defined the term as a feminist ideal that represented “a contemporary, modern understanding of femininity, one that emphasised youth, visibility, and mobility as well as a demand for greater freedom and independence" that held a profound influence well into the 20th century. Once coined, it brought about "an era that thrilled and terrified men and women to see what a woman might do—or be—next."
As René Steinke observes in the afterword of the 2012 reprinted edition: "There were endless debates about what a woman could do and couldn’t do, and should do and shouldn’t do, and what can only be described as a kind of mania for defining the New Woman, who refused to be defined.
The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars ingeniously seizes on the unknowability of the New Woman and translates the fear and giddiness surrounding her into a story of international intrigue.
[As] one of the first popular spy novels based on international intrigue and sophisticated travel, [it] is the women who, literally make the story move."
As a modern reader, I thoroughly enjoyed Dekobra's method of employing journalistic components within his work of fiction where he peppers the narrative with a light yet astute commentary of the political clime of the period through the emancipation of his female characters—making his work terrifically contemporary.
July 3, 2018
I purchased a Neversink Library bundle for myself for Christmas about five or six years ago. I had only recently become aware of Melville House and was quite intrigued by the design of these books and the mission of the Neversink series, to make available titles which had been under-appreciated or unfortunately forgotten. I cannot quite recall if the bundle was ten pre-selected titles or if I chose the volumes myself. Over the intervening years I have read maybe two. After Midnight for sure, people in an apartment fearful of the Nazis bursting in upon them, and the Right Way to do Wrong, Houdini just riffing for about 200 pages. Somewhere along the way I must have sold off several, at current I only count five Neversink volumes on my shelves.
This book is appropriately described as a romp. It sold over 15 million copies upon its publication in the 1920s and in many ways originated the spy thriller, began a long legacy of mystery and intrigue stories set on and around the Orient express, and provided the basis for the hard boil language of Raymond Chandler and others. I found it delightful.
Many goodreads reviewers seemed mystified as to why Melville House would republish a book that amounts to such a light entertainment. With its page-turning plot leaps and its unenlightened vilification of the Soviet Union. This strikes me as an unfair evaluation of the book. Sure its light, but there is so much here. The whole book could quite easily be a chapter in a later Pynchon novel. I think it is well deserving of a wider audience. Recommended.
This book is appropriately described as a romp. It sold over 15 million copies upon its publication in the 1920s and in many ways originated the spy thriller, began a long legacy of mystery and intrigue stories set on and around the Orient express, and provided the basis for the hard boil language of Raymond Chandler and others. I found it delightful.
Many goodreads reviewers seemed mystified as to why Melville House would republish a book that amounts to such a light entertainment. With its page-turning plot leaps and its unenlightened vilification of the Soviet Union. This strikes me as an unfair evaluation of the book. Sure its light, but there is so much here. The whole book could quite easily be a chapter in a later Pynchon novel. I think it is well deserving of a wider audience. Recommended.
December 11, 2023
Lady Diana Wynham, charmante veuve écossaise, décide d'utiliser de ses généreux charmes pour reprendre possession d'exploitations pétrolifères, désormais sous contrôle soviétique. Pour ce faire, elle séduit un délégué russe, Varichkine, et encoure le courroux d'une agente incorruptible de la Tchéka, Irina Mouravieff.
Sur trame de fond des années folles, La Madone des Sleepings bascule entre une description des moeurs débridées d'une nymphomane à un roman d'espionnage avant la note. Si l'intrigue n'est pas particulièrement poignante, l'écriture de Dekobra est savoureuse et spirituelle.
Sur trame de fond des années folles, La Madone des Sleepings bascule entre une description des moeurs débridées d'une nymphomane à un roman d'espionnage avant la note. Si l'intrigue n'est pas particulièrement poignante, l'écriture de Dekobra est savoureuse et spirituelle.
April 14, 2020
Lady Diana Wynham seeks to wow the soulless and cynical Bolsheviks, who are in case just bitter, spurned romantics underneath. I suppose the main curiosity here is that anyone would have thought it possible, in 1925, that the USSR would open up and let foreigners claim their mining concessions granted the pre-Revolutionary times. Before Stalin, a gradual decline away from communism by 1940 looked plausible.
I'd like to see the old film versions.
I'd like to see the old film versions.
December 8, 2020
Al principio no me convenció mucho pero ha terminado gustándome. A primera vista es una comedia de enredo entretenida pero la trama en la Rusia bolchevique le da un toque de ficción histórica interesante. Recomendable.
August 23, 2021
Relato de entreguerras sobre la vida de la jet set de entonces. Tiene su punto de frivolidad y humor, pero se queda en la caricatura. Creo que ha envejecido mal, o igual es que no estoy en el momento de descripción de las telas y los sombreros y las maderas de los yates.
December 28, 2018
A delightful spy romp in which Dekobra makes much social and political commentary. Fast paced, brilliant dialogue, cunning spy plot. And he skewers the haughty Leninists! A grand entertainment.
January 5, 2019
Una estrella.
Incapaz de empatizar con los personajes, las situaciones, la historia.
Confusa, absurda, larga, aburrida, monótona...
Incapaz de empatizar con los personajes, las situaciones, la historia.
Confusa, absurda, larga, aburrida, monótona...
May 5, 2019
La Madona de los coches cama es un personaje libre, arriesgado y poco convencional que junto al principe Seliman nos otorgan una aventura trepidante
August 6, 2019
La edición y las frases hechas para ser enmarcadas lo mejor. El narrador es taaaaan pesado.
Read
October 6, 2020I just can't keep reading. It's clever, it's naughty, and it just falls flat. I have better books to read. I'll keep it around for a bit to see if I pick it up again.
July 9, 2021
Not engaging. Not interested in the story that was being told.
No engancha. No me interesó en absoluto la historia que contaba.
No engancha. No me interesó en absoluto la historia que contaba.
September 18, 2021
Silly, mediocre, but compulsively readable, if only to see what happened next
December 2, 2021
Imprescindible. Hacía tiempo que no leía algo tan entretenido.
January 29, 2022
Al inicio del libro estaba realmente intrigada con las posibilidades que ofrecía la historia, de hecho pequé de ambiciosa y pensé que podría pasear en el orient express en su época gloriosa, llegue a imaginarme una trama de lo más divertida y emocionante, puesto que los personajes se prestan para ello, incluso alabe la escritura recargada de florituras de Dekobra, pasadas las 30 o 50 primeras páginas, mis impresiones cambiaron, no tanto por los personajes que seguían ofreciendo magnificas posibilidades, o por la oportunidad de viajar por parajes exóticos, lo cual aún era probable, aunque el orient express se veía cada vez más lejos; sino porque el libro se empezó a tornar en crítica hacia el comunismo, y al esnobismo y a la sociedad de la época, no tengo nada con las críticas, veladas o no, que se pueden hacer en el contexto histórico del libro, de hecho como mencione en el corazón de las tinieblas, rara vez los escritores son certeros con las opiniones que vierten en la boca de sus personajes, sin embargo, en este caso, estas críticas en vez de aportar al carácter de los personajes o a la trama, los disminuyen, los fragmenta, si a eso se le suma que la historia para mi se vuelve sosa, el libro termina por hacerse tedioso, ya en las ultimas 20 o 30 páginas, desde los acontecimientos nimios, hasta los diálogos decisivos se tornan por poco creíbles, algunos rayan lo absurdo, además que de paisajes exóticos, nada, y eso que el orient express aparece al final de los finales.
En definitiva, no era lo que me esperaba, creo que los personajes daban para muchas mas cosas, el mal manejo de la historia hace que las criticas la sobrepasen, y los personajes queden a medio hacer, la cereza del pastel es el final, totalmente predecible. Realmente una pena, porque el libro y el tema daba para mucho, pero la historia queda más bien tibiecita.
En definitiva, no era lo que me esperaba, creo que los personajes daban para muchas mas cosas, el mal manejo de la historia hace que las criticas la sobrepasen, y los personajes queden a medio hacer, la cereza del pastel es el final, totalmente predecible. Realmente una pena, porque el libro y el tema daba para mucho, pero la historia queda más bien tibiecita.
December 27, 2012
a fun glimpse at the culture and society hi-jinks of the european upper class in the mid 1920s. while the writing and the characters seemed a bit overblown and sensational, there is also a wonderful light-hearted escapism in reading descriptions of such extreme extravagance as well as the growing climate of tension, apprehension and excitement between the capitalist west and the strange echelons of the post-lenin soviet union.
the characterizations are mostly topical, but the atmosphere of eroticism personified in lady diana and underlying the staunch social mores of that time is kind of a fascinating and exotic read now. while not as impactful a narrative nor as compelling a psychology as one of my personal favourites, leopold von sacher-masoch's venus in furs, i imagine if you liked the former you'll enjoy madonna of sleeping cars.
the characterizations are mostly topical, but the atmosphere of eroticism personified in lady diana and underlying the staunch social mores of that time is kind of a fascinating and exotic read now. while not as impactful a narrative nor as compelling a psychology as one of my personal favourites, leopold von sacher-masoch's venus in furs, i imagine if you liked the former you'll enjoy madonna of sleeping cars.
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