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The Company of Strangers
Stunning European-based thriller from an acclaimed young British ‘A class act’ – Sunday Times; ‘First in a field of one’ – Literary Review
Lisbon 1944. In the torrid summer heat, as the streets of the capital seethe with spies and informers, the endgame of the Intelligence war is being silently fought.
Andrea Aspinall, mathematician and spy, enters this sophisticated world through a wealthy household in Estoril. Karl Voss, military attaché to the German Legation, has arrived embittered by his implication in the murder of a Reichsminister and traumatized by Stalingrad, on a mission to rescue Germany from annihilation. In the lethal tranquility of this corrupted paradise they meet and attempt to find love in a world where no-one can be believed.
After a night of extreme violence, Andrea is left with a lifelong addiction to the clandestine world that leads her from the brutal Portuguese fascist régime to the paranoia of Cold War Germany, where she is forced to make the final and the hardest choice.
Lisbon 1944. In the torrid summer heat, as the streets of the capital seethe with spies and informers, the endgame of the Intelligence war is being silently fought.
Andrea Aspinall, mathematician and spy, enters this sophisticated world through a wealthy household in Estoril. Karl Voss, military attaché to the German Legation, has arrived embittered by his implication in the murder of a Reichsminister and traumatized by Stalingrad, on a mission to rescue Germany from annihilation. In the lethal tranquility of this corrupted paradise they meet and attempt to find love in a world where no-one can be believed.
After a night of extreme violence, Andrea is left with a lifelong addiction to the clandestine world that leads her from the brutal Portuguese fascist régime to the paranoia of Cold War Germany, where she is forced to make the final and the hardest choice.
594 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 19, 2001
157 people are currently reading
1048 people want to read
About the author
Robert Wilson
475 books518 followersRobert Wilson has written thirteen novels including the Bruce Medway noir series set in West Africa and two Lisbon books with WW2 settings the first of which, A Small Death in Lisbon, won the CWA Gold Dagger in 1999 and the International Deutsche Krimi prize in 2003. He has written four psychological crime novels set in Seville, with his Spanish detective, Javier Falcón. Two of these books (The Blind Man of Seville and The Silent and the Damned) were filmed and broadcast on Sky Atlantic as ‘Falcón’ in 2012. A film of the fourth Falcón book was released in Spain in 2014 under the title La Ignorancia de la Sangre. Capital Punishment, the first novel in his latest series of pure thrillers set in London and featuring kidnap consultant, Charles Boxer, was published in 2013 and was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. This was followed by You Will Never Find Me in 2014. The third book in the series, Stealing People, will be published in 2015. Robert Wilson loves to cook food from all over the world but especially Spanish, Portuguese, Indian and Thai. He also loves to walk with dogs…and people, too.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
September 7, 2014
This book cost me $2 for the paperback and a lot of hours of sleep. I couldn't put it down. I dislike having to resort to what another reviewer has said, but I'm in complete agreement with the Los Angeles Times: "Absorbing and brilliantly written, this is caviar for the cognoscenti." But the appeal went way beyond that for me. This book isn't only a brilliant portrayal of the spy era, it captured my emotions and had them in its grip right until the end. When I came to the end, I sat with the book on my lap thinking about the two main characters and what they'd been through; about how tenacious love can be. I doubt I'll ever forget this story. It's one of the most romantic I've ever read.
September 17, 2017
Robert Wilson is an interesting writer and I did enjoy reading his Falcon quartet which showed his insightful writing style when it comes to coleur locale of his books. I always thought I had read this book as wel but it turns out I was mistaken.
A story about Spies in the "neutral" country of Portugal during WWII in which a young lady, our heroine, gets send to Lissabon to participate in the world of spying among each other with the Alies and the Germans, who could essentially do business with the allies from the opposition.
It is also the story of a member of the Wehrmacht who gets caught up in the office politics of the German Reich and finds himself out of his depth. He gets a way out after his brother dies in Russia and his father kills himself and ends up in Lissabon as second in command in what is in essence the spies being run. And at the same time he is a double for the British in stopping the Nazis.
When everything does not go to plan the German gets killed leaving behind the English Lass who then gets maneuvered into an uncertain situation and she ends up staying in Portugal.
The second part of the book is in the late sixties when our heroine has lost both her man and son to the Portugese Colonial wars and she comes home and finally takes her place in the world of spying again. Which turns out to be a family occupation. And once again she gets involved in the plans of other people and pays the price.
An excellent story in which we see the spy craft during WWII & during the cold war from a viewpoint that is female in a world that is played and ruled by men. It is not your 007-esque adventure but a story about real men and women doing the job that takes them away from the "normal"world and the sacrifices they make for the safety of their country and people. A well written story that gives a clear vision of WWII Portugal and cold-war England/East-Germany where games are being played in which humans lives are being used as chess pieces in a deadly game.
Well worth your while and certainly one of the better Spy-novels I have read.
A story about Spies in the "neutral" country of Portugal during WWII in which a young lady, our heroine, gets send to Lissabon to participate in the world of spying among each other with the Alies and the Germans, who could essentially do business with the allies from the opposition.
It is also the story of a member of the Wehrmacht who gets caught up in the office politics of the German Reich and finds himself out of his depth. He gets a way out after his brother dies in Russia and his father kills himself and ends up in Lissabon as second in command in what is in essence the spies being run. And at the same time he is a double for the British in stopping the Nazis.
When everything does not go to plan the German gets killed leaving behind the English Lass who then gets maneuvered into an uncertain situation and she ends up staying in Portugal.
The second part of the book is in the late sixties when our heroine has lost both her man and son to the Portugese Colonial wars and she comes home and finally takes her place in the world of spying again. Which turns out to be a family occupation. And once again she gets involved in the plans of other people and pays the price.
An excellent story in which we see the spy craft during WWII & during the cold war from a viewpoint that is female in a world that is played and ruled by men. It is not your 007-esque adventure but a story about real men and women doing the job that takes them away from the "normal"world and the sacrifices they make for the safety of their country and people. A well written story that gives a clear vision of WWII Portugal and cold-war England/East-Germany where games are being played in which humans lives are being used as chess pieces in a deadly game.
Well worth your while and certainly one of the better Spy-novels I have read.
July 5, 2013
Just finished I think all of Robert Wilson's books. company of Strangers took me to the gripping quality of Blind Man of Seville and the Javier Falcon series. Don't know what it is as I've had a remarkably unremarkably comfortable life but Wilson awakens fascinating dark places in this, among his best work. Among the many good things about Wilson's work --- you can start almost anywhere. Thank you Robert.
April 6, 2021
This novel was a densely packed thriller taking place in Europe during WW11. While chock full of drama and espionage, I thought author Robert Wilson just took on too much. There was more than one time where I thought the story could end here. But it didn’t. It slogged through almost 500 pages, following a sizable cast of characters. Beautifully written, just too long.
August 24, 2019
Spy novels are always more or less than you expect. The main characters are often devious and very smart (and lucky) while other spies in the book are equally so or the direct opposite.
In this book, no doubt well written, all the spies seemed pretty pathetic at turns, in my opinion (and I've been looking at other reviews where people thought this was a good story). And I know that some of them were devious and not what they seemed. And this was written during a period when the lines were pretty darn fluid. But I never got a handle on what they were doing at all. And the main character made no sense to me at all.
Consider, the book starts when Andrea Aspinall is 16 and during the blitz in England the home of her music tutor is bombed. She runs to the home and starts screaming hysterically.
Three years later, she had been trained to be a spy and is sent undercover to Lisbon. I don't think she knows what she is supposed to be doing — and neither does the reader. And she runs into a strange surreal world, staying in the home of a man whose wife reminds you of Jane Eyre and Rochester's mad wife. Through various scenarios, Andrea meets and falls in love with the enemy, Karl Voss, a military attache to the German Legation.
The situation is falling apart and there is that pivotal moment comes when the lovers are separated. Andrea goes on with her life, in Portugal. You would think this is the ending of the book but no 24 years later, we return to the story of Andrea, who returns to Britain and there's a resolution with her mother, who is dying. And the story continues.
I've probably shared too much of the plot as it is but let me be honest. I don't like Andrea Aspinall, who doesn't appear to stand for anything and while smart, allows herself to be manipulated all over the place. I have no sense about the British secret service at all and this story seems to meander all over the place. Too long, too convoluted and there are too many twists and no satisfaction.
In this book, no doubt well written, all the spies seemed pretty pathetic at turns, in my opinion (and I've been looking at other reviews where people thought this was a good story). And I know that some of them were devious and not what they seemed. And this was written during a period when the lines were pretty darn fluid. But I never got a handle on what they were doing at all. And the main character made no sense to me at all.
Consider, the book starts when Andrea Aspinall is 16 and during the blitz in England the home of her music tutor is bombed. She runs to the home and starts screaming hysterically.
Three years later, she had been trained to be a spy and is sent undercover to Lisbon. I don't think she knows what she is supposed to be doing — and neither does the reader. And she runs into a strange surreal world, staying in the home of a man whose wife reminds you of Jane Eyre and Rochester's mad wife. Through various scenarios, Andrea meets and falls in love with the enemy, Karl Voss, a military attache to the German Legation.
The situation is falling apart and there is that pivotal moment comes when the lovers are separated. Andrea goes on with her life, in Portugal. You would think this is the ending of the book but no 24 years later, we return to the story of Andrea, who returns to Britain and there's a resolution with her mother, who is dying. And the story continues.
I've probably shared too much of the plot as it is but let me be honest. I don't like Andrea Aspinall, who doesn't appear to stand for anything and while smart, allows herself to be manipulated all over the place. I have no sense about the British secret service at all and this story seems to meander all over the place. Too long, too convoluted and there are too many twists and no satisfaction.
October 30, 2019
"What will Survive of us but Love?"
Blown away by this book. Quite extraordinary.
Its marketed as a Spy book. I've never got on with Spy books - so started with some trepidation. Quickly developed into a page turning war thriller - but more/better was to come.
Book 1 - 1940, we are introduced to a young lady - Andrea - 16 years old, her adoptive family home is destroyed in a doodlebug strike in London. Slightly later in the timeline, we're also introduced to Karl Voss - A high ranking German officer in East Prussia. His brother is serving at the Russian Front. His parents are true Germans/Anti Nazi and they can see the way the tide is turning.
Karl and Andrea meet in the 1944 Portugal - where there are plots against Hitler both side of WWII developing their nuclear armaments. They fall in love, there's some derring-do and high spy drama but its also a travelogue about Lisbon.
After 300 odd pages of this we move onto book 2 and this is where the book takes an unexpected turn - we're in the late sixties. Andrea is still in the spy service and is called to Berlin.
Impossible to say more than this in a review without giving the game away but it was an unexpected change in gear. Book three, moves Andrea's story on again, to the late 90s and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The book is a little bit of everything - war book, spy book, thriller, travelogue but mainly its a love story between the two characters.
The author writes in a distinctive style that keeps the action moving well, and with a very dark style. The characters are not the most sympathetic (Andrea pulls some stunts) but very human. They also lived in extraordinary times.
The ending.... incredible. Didn't see it coming.
Very different to standard thrillers. Looks like I have a new author's back catalogue to dive into.
Blown away by this book. Quite extraordinary.
Its marketed as a Spy book. I've never got on with Spy books - so started with some trepidation. Quickly developed into a page turning war thriller - but more/better was to come.
Book 1 - 1940, we are introduced to a young lady - Andrea - 16 years old, her adoptive family home is destroyed in a doodlebug strike in London. Slightly later in the timeline, we're also introduced to Karl Voss - A high ranking German officer in East Prussia. His brother is serving at the Russian Front. His parents are true Germans/Anti Nazi and they can see the way the tide is turning.
Karl and Andrea meet in the 1944 Portugal - where there are plots against Hitler both side of WWII developing their nuclear armaments. They fall in love, there's some derring-do and high spy drama but its also a travelogue about Lisbon.
After 300 odd pages of this we move onto book 2 and this is where the book takes an unexpected turn - we're in the late sixties. Andrea is still in the spy service and is called to Berlin.
Impossible to say more than this in a review without giving the game away but it was an unexpected change in gear. Book three, moves Andrea's story on again, to the late 90s and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The book is a little bit of everything - war book, spy book, thriller, travelogue but mainly its a love story between the two characters.
The author writes in a distinctive style that keeps the action moving well, and with a very dark style. The characters are not the most sympathetic (Andrea pulls some stunts) but very human. They also lived in extraordinary times.
The ending.... incredible. Didn't see it coming.
Very different to standard thrillers. Looks like I have a new author's back catalogue to dive into.
October 30, 2008
Reading this thriller was like reading two separate books inexpertly stitched together. In the first half, a young English student is recruited by her country's secret service and sent to Portugal in 1944 for the purpose of espionage, although her exact assignment is not exactly explained. There, she falls in love at first sight, or rather at first grip, with a German diplomat who turns out to be a double-agent involved in an assassination attempt against Hitler. This part of the book is masterlful, despite many holes in the plot. But one forgives them because the pace is so fast and furious and the tension so taut. For the most part it's very well-written, although occasionally over-written with a couple too many soaring metaphors for my liking. But this author has a real poetic gift -- he often made me quite jealous. Wilson lives in Portugal and really makes the setting come to life -- the hot dusty hills surrounding Lisbon and the dingy streets of the city itself.
The second half of the book is less successful. Tragically divided, the lovers go their separate ways for decades. I won't give away the plot -- suffice to say that they meet again in Cold War East Berlin. This part of the story has the feel of warmed-over John Le Carre. You get sentences like this: "He drove a slow circuit of the blocks of flats before coming out again on the Karl Marx Allee and heading east on the Frankfurter Allee.He turned right in Freidrichsfelde, past the white expanse of the Tierpark, under the S-bahn bridge and then left into the Kopenicker Allee." And it goes on from there. Yes, the author has done his research trip and mastered the street names. But for the reader, it's boring. Names alone do not produce atmosphere.
I also have to say I really didn't like the way this book ended. A pity because so much of it was so superior to the general run of thrillers. Despite my criticism, it's still very much worth reading.
For more about me and my book The Nazi Hunter: A Novel go to www.alanelsner.com.
The second half of the book is less successful. Tragically divided, the lovers go their separate ways for decades. I won't give away the plot -- suffice to say that they meet again in Cold War East Berlin. This part of the story has the feel of warmed-over John Le Carre. You get sentences like this: "He drove a slow circuit of the blocks of flats before coming out again on the Karl Marx Allee and heading east on the Frankfurter Allee.He turned right in Freidrichsfelde, past the white expanse of the Tierpark, under the S-bahn bridge and then left into the Kopenicker Allee." And it goes on from there. Yes, the author has done his research trip and mastered the street names. But for the reader, it's boring. Names alone do not produce atmosphere.
I also have to say I really didn't like the way this book ended. A pity because so much of it was so superior to the general run of thrillers. Despite my criticism, it's still very much worth reading.
For more about me and my book The Nazi Hunter: A Novel go to www.alanelsner.com.
February 4, 2015
There are three "books" in this novel. Book One is excellent - 5 stars - full of suspense, with a vivid sense of place and interesting characters. Book Two is a slog-fest, until the very end. The sense of place is gone, the characters are bogged down and so is the story. Book Three shows a bit more promise - we return to Lisbon so that sense of place is back - but the ending, while realistic, is terrible. I've come away with a foul taste in my mouth, all the promise and excitement from book one squelched out.
October 8, 2016
Uma bela revelação.
"Eu sei que nem foi um dia (...) mas conheço-te. Não estou sozinho. Soou estúpido (...) mas foi a coisa mais importante que tive estes anos todos, ter tido alguém.
o terror súbito de o avião cair e eu morrer na companhia de Estranhos...sem ninguém que me conhecesse, que me tivesse amor.
"Eu sei que nem foi um dia (...) mas conheço-te. Não estou sozinho. Soou estúpido (...) mas foi a coisa mais importante que tive estes anos todos, ter tido alguém.
o terror súbito de o avião cair e eu morrer na companhia de Estranhos...sem ninguém que me conhecesse, que me tivesse amor.
September 1, 2016
Just couldn't get into it second book by this author I
read
read
February 3, 2021
I had high hopes for this book, but sadly it fell a bit short.
June 17, 2021
It was fun to read about Lisbon, having visited that city a few years back, and other parts of Portugal ... with only limited WW2 espionage reading under my belt, Lisbon was a new setting for intrigue ... "everyone's a spy" is pretty much the story of the international community in Lisbon ... adversaries going to the same dinner parties and restaurants, drinking together, telling their lies, watching each other with wary eyes, life fueled by booze, sex, and secrets.
Wilson captures the feel of the city - it's heat, the bars, the hills and trams, the old and the new, and the salt-cod everywhere ... and sadly, the extreme poverty of the nation under a fascist regime, with the rich enjoying a life of ease and privilege.
The story begins in WW2 Lisbon and ends in London 50 years later ... winding its ways through Lisbon, London, Berlin ... and back again.
It's a huge story - love gained, love lost, love found again, sort of. Betrayal in all sorts of ways as those who engage in skullduggery learn to lie with skill, until the lies becomes their own truth, yet exact a brutal price. It is a company of perpetual strangers.
Wilson writes cleverly ... his use of words, images, descriptors, is often surprising and entertaining ... with plenty of quotable quotes.
In the end, it's a tragedy ... the very fabric of spy craft is a terrible web ... driven by a madness, a madness to conceal, for the sake of power, a madness that hands out death quickly, and easily, replicating its evil from one generation to another, protecting the lies and the subterfuges, some of which is necessary, or so it would seem, but much of it generated in the heat of the moment, like a chess game that can never end, with every "check," just that, a check, and never a checkmate, the board replenishing itself with new players, fresh secrets, everyone nursing old wounds, telling lies, and dealing out death.
A strong read.
But be prepared for a less than happy ending ... consistent with the story, lies kill. Sooner or later, lies kill.
Would be a good read for a book club.
Wilson captures the feel of the city - it's heat, the bars, the hills and trams, the old and the new, and the salt-cod everywhere ... and sadly, the extreme poverty of the nation under a fascist regime, with the rich enjoying a life of ease and privilege.
The story begins in WW2 Lisbon and ends in London 50 years later ... winding its ways through Lisbon, London, Berlin ... and back again.
It's a huge story - love gained, love lost, love found again, sort of. Betrayal in all sorts of ways as those who engage in skullduggery learn to lie with skill, until the lies becomes their own truth, yet exact a brutal price. It is a company of perpetual strangers.
Wilson writes cleverly ... his use of words, images, descriptors, is often surprising and entertaining ... with plenty of quotable quotes.
In the end, it's a tragedy ... the very fabric of spy craft is a terrible web ... driven by a madness, a madness to conceal, for the sake of power, a madness that hands out death quickly, and easily, replicating its evil from one generation to another, protecting the lies and the subterfuges, some of which is necessary, or so it would seem, but much of it generated in the heat of the moment, like a chess game that can never end, with every "check," just that, a check, and never a checkmate, the board replenishing itself with new players, fresh secrets, everyone nursing old wounds, telling lies, and dealing out death.
A strong read.
But be prepared for a less than happy ending ... consistent with the story, lies kill. Sooner or later, lies kill.
Would be a good read for a book club.
May 10, 2014
I did not know what I was getting into when I started this book. It was given to me and I was told "it's a good book". Yes, it is! It is not my genre. I am not into spies, double agents, espionage, etc...;however, if that is your forte "The Company of Strangers" is a must. Starting in the 1940s and ending in the 90s the writer keeps it interesting and pacts a lot of adventure into this book. I must admit it was confusing at time, the writer used too many street names, foreign cities that were difficult to remember. There were many characters and it was difficult to remember who's who and what happened to them. But beyond that I enjoyed the book. The love story was hard to swallow but yet enjoyable. When I started the book I didn't think I would end it by saying it was a page turner, but yet it was. When I think back on the book it is amazing how everyone had a story and all the stories came together to form one great book.
March 12, 2015
Read the ARC. One of the locales of this book of World War II intrigue and romance is one of my favorite cities so I am biased from the start. Anything involving Lisboa will get my attention quick quick. How does a young English woman become involved with Germans in Lisboa? Is it wise to fall in love during such turbulent times? Are spies as romantic as we are lead to believe? Not as strong as his 'The Blind Man of Seville' but well worth the read.
November 17, 2017
An intriguing premise of forbidden love between spies in Portugal during WWII never lives up to much. Convoluted, with an unrealistic love story and too complicated side stories, this book is hard to follow. By the time the story jumped almost 25 years in time, I was ready for it to be over.
October 1, 2020
This is three books in one, and how two spy's deal authoritarianism in Portugal, Germany, Russia, and even British colonial India. The surprise ending sent a chilling message. The depiction of Lisbon, Casais, and Sintra made me want to return to Portugal.
May 5, 2008
Slow, slow, slow. I skipped the middle third of the book it was so boring, but I wanted to know the end of the story for the main character. :)
February 1, 2009
Norsk utgave: I selskap med fremmede
Orket ikke lese hele, syns den var kjedelig..
Orket ikke lese hele, syns den var kjedelig..
November 19, 2011
A good story premise but it had many weak spots, and uninteresting, sections throughout the book.
December 19, 2015
Not a book I would recommend to anyone
February 7, 2016
I couldn't finish this book. The main characters are just not very interesting. Esp. the heroine is acting way beyond her age in a non-believable way. The plot is moving like molasses.
December 21, 2017
Read to page 304. Disappointed.
March 19, 2019
Not a "page turner" as the book jacket promised. The story needed a good editor as it dragged on and on.
September 10, 2019
Boring characters and dull plot. Didn't hold my interest at all and I had to abandon this book
February 6, 2022
Complicated and intense. Riveting detail and great historical background. Realistic and unromanticized spy thriller.
May 23, 2022
A rarity in spy fiction--beautifully written and deeply affecting. I was exhausted by the end of it, and very much aged too, but in the best way possible.
September 30, 2025
The book spans the period 1940 to 1991, though over two-thirds of the book is set in the 1940s.
In 1940 Andrea Aspinall has survived German bombing in London which reinforces her hate of Germans. Her mother seems cold towards her so there is no love between them either. We then leap two years to the German invasion of Russia. Captain Karl Voss is disillusioned by the incompetence of Hitler who is unwilling to admit his forces face defeat against the cannon fodder of Russia. ‘It’s as if God’s lost control of the game and the children have taken over – naughty children’ (p328). Before he can be slaughtered, he is sent home to Berlin on compassionate leave in 1943. While there he is approached by a high-ranking officer; he is to be transferred to the German Legation in Lisbon. He is to become a spy – with the intention of shortening the war by clandestinely meeting with sympathetic British agents...
In 1944 Andrea is recruited and trained as an agent for ‘the Company’ to work in Lisbon under the name of Anne Ashworth. Despite Portugal being neutral and one of England’s oldest allies, the country was not regarded as a safe haven. Under Salazar’s quasi-fascist regime, ‘Secret police – Gestapo trained – called the PVDE. The city’s infested with bufos – informers’ (p82). ‘... what she knew about the Portuguese – they understood tragedy, it was their territory’ (p413).
Voss is entangled in the secret machinations of Operation Valkyrie – the assassination attempt on Hitler – as well as his growing relationship with Andrea. There are shifting allegiances, it seems, and nobody can be trusted. That includes the bickering Americans, Hal and Mary Couples, Andrea’s host Wilshere and his demented wife Mafalda, the SIS agents Meredith, Sutherland, Rose and Wallis and the suspected turncoat Lazard. There is also the mystery of her predecessor, the American Judy Laverne who was either deported or died in a terrible motor accident. And behind the scenes Russian spymasters are lurking.
The febrile atmosphere in Lisbon is projected realistically and the action scenes, where blood is spilt, are dramatic and exciting. From time to time the suspense is high, too. And while the plot is convoluted it remains compulsive, and despite the narrative moving across many years the reader’s interest is held for the 560+ pages.
The book title crops up at least twice. Once when strangely she suddenly harbours a fear while flying, when God might ‘let them drop from the sky and she would die in the company of strangers, unknown and unloved’ (p417) and referred to again on p542.
When writing of the tragedy of Portugal, he could have been referring to the tragedy of the main characters. Sadly, I found the ending unsatisfactory – though in all probability truthful. This is only my opinion, after all. Indeed, Wilson is a good writer and has a gift for the telling phrase and metaphor, such as these samples:
‘She gave him a smile torn from a magazine’ (126). [Like this, better than giving him an insincere smile...].
‘blistered with rust’(p203) – a good description.!
‘He stirred his tea for a long time for a man who didn’t take sugar’ (p431). [conveys disguised mental turmoil, perhaps].
‘She listened again to the settling house and painted the desktop with her torch beam’ (p202). [better than his torch lit up the desktop].
‘The wind was stronger out here, blowing sand across the road, which corrugated to washboard, hammering at the suspension’ (p121). [good visuals!].
The blurb refers to this book as a thriller. While there are thrilling interludes, I feel it is too sedate to be a thriller. It’s a good novel, though.
In 1940 Andrea Aspinall has survived German bombing in London which reinforces her hate of Germans. Her mother seems cold towards her so there is no love between them either. We then leap two years to the German invasion of Russia. Captain Karl Voss is disillusioned by the incompetence of Hitler who is unwilling to admit his forces face defeat against the cannon fodder of Russia. ‘It’s as if God’s lost control of the game and the children have taken over – naughty children’ (p328). Before he can be slaughtered, he is sent home to Berlin on compassionate leave in 1943. While there he is approached by a high-ranking officer; he is to be transferred to the German Legation in Lisbon. He is to become a spy – with the intention of shortening the war by clandestinely meeting with sympathetic British agents...
In 1944 Andrea is recruited and trained as an agent for ‘the Company’ to work in Lisbon under the name of Anne Ashworth. Despite Portugal being neutral and one of England’s oldest allies, the country was not regarded as a safe haven. Under Salazar’s quasi-fascist regime, ‘Secret police – Gestapo trained – called the PVDE. The city’s infested with bufos – informers’ (p82). ‘... what she knew about the Portuguese – they understood tragedy, it was their territory’ (p413).
Voss is entangled in the secret machinations of Operation Valkyrie – the assassination attempt on Hitler – as well as his growing relationship with Andrea. There are shifting allegiances, it seems, and nobody can be trusted. That includes the bickering Americans, Hal and Mary Couples, Andrea’s host Wilshere and his demented wife Mafalda, the SIS agents Meredith, Sutherland, Rose and Wallis and the suspected turncoat Lazard. There is also the mystery of her predecessor, the American Judy Laverne who was either deported or died in a terrible motor accident. And behind the scenes Russian spymasters are lurking.
The febrile atmosphere in Lisbon is projected realistically and the action scenes, where blood is spilt, are dramatic and exciting. From time to time the suspense is high, too. And while the plot is convoluted it remains compulsive, and despite the narrative moving across many years the reader’s interest is held for the 560+ pages.
The book title crops up at least twice. Once when strangely she suddenly harbours a fear while flying, when God might ‘let them drop from the sky and she would die in the company of strangers, unknown and unloved’ (p417) and referred to again on p542.
When writing of the tragedy of Portugal, he could have been referring to the tragedy of the main characters. Sadly, I found the ending unsatisfactory – though in all probability truthful. This is only my opinion, after all. Indeed, Wilson is a good writer and has a gift for the telling phrase and metaphor, such as these samples:
‘She gave him a smile torn from a magazine’ (126). [Like this, better than giving him an insincere smile...].
‘blistered with rust’(p203) – a good description.!
‘He stirred his tea for a long time for a man who didn’t take sugar’ (p431). [conveys disguised mental turmoil, perhaps].
‘She listened again to the settling house and painted the desktop with her torch beam’ (p202). [better than his torch lit up the desktop].
‘The wind was stronger out here, blowing sand across the road, which corrugated to washboard, hammering at the suspension’ (p121). [good visuals!].
The blurb refers to this book as a thriller. While there are thrilling interludes, I feel it is too sedate to be a thriller. It’s a good novel, though.
August 26, 2022
Robert Wilson is an interesting writer who has lived in Africa and Portugal and used both as settings in his novels. This one is an espionage tale that connects two disparate historical periods with a long-running love story, an epic if there ever was one.
Andrea Aspinall is an English girl who never knew her father and hates her mother. An outsider, talented in both mathematics and languages, she is recruited by the SIS and sent to Lisbon in 1944 as part of a British network keeping tabs on all the scheming expatriates there.
Karl Voss is a German army officer at Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia. He has a brother in Stalingrad and a father in Berlin. Soon both will be dead and Karl will be involved with the anti-Hitler conspiracy inside the army. He, too, is sent to Lisbon, to be ready to take over the German legation there when the plot ripens.
Of course, Andrea and Karl will meet, and of course they will hit it off and have a torrid romance. This complicates their lives and the work of their respective spy rings, and ends badly. Cut to twenty-some years later; Andrea has stayed in Lisbon, married a Portuguese officer and raised a son with him. To tell more would be a spoiler; suffice it to say that Andrea returns to London when her mother is on her death bed and starts to learn secrets, which leads her back into the netherworld of espionage and a second climactic outcome, full of surprises.
It's complicated, richly textured, sometimes a bit hard to follow, very evocative of times and places. The characters are vivid and the details of spycraft convincing. And there's nothing like an epic love story, even if there are no happy endings in espionage.
Andrea Aspinall is an English girl who never knew her father and hates her mother. An outsider, talented in both mathematics and languages, she is recruited by the SIS and sent to Lisbon in 1944 as part of a British network keeping tabs on all the scheming expatriates there.
Karl Voss is a German army officer at Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia. He has a brother in Stalingrad and a father in Berlin. Soon both will be dead and Karl will be involved with the anti-Hitler conspiracy inside the army. He, too, is sent to Lisbon, to be ready to take over the German legation there when the plot ripens.
Of course, Andrea and Karl will meet, and of course they will hit it off and have a torrid romance. This complicates their lives and the work of their respective spy rings, and ends badly. Cut to twenty-some years later; Andrea has stayed in Lisbon, married a Portuguese officer and raised a son with him. To tell more would be a spoiler; suffice it to say that Andrea returns to London when her mother is on her death bed and starts to learn secrets, which leads her back into the netherworld of espionage and a second climactic outcome, full of surprises.
It's complicated, richly textured, sometimes a bit hard to follow, very evocative of times and places. The characters are vivid and the details of spycraft convincing. And there's nothing like an epic love story, even if there are no happy endings in espionage.
February 15, 2024
The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson is a book of epic proportions spanning the years 1940 to 1989 and ranging in scope through England, Germany, Portugal and back to England. It tells of spies and counter-spies in neutral Portugal; Germany’s race to build atomic powered weapons, and the ruthlessness of the British, German and Russian intelligence agencies throughout World War Two and the Cold War.
It is also a story of the complicated personal lives behind all of those scenes, full of tremendous depth and colour. At the soul of the book is the fateful, heart-wrenching love story between Andrea Aspinall, a young English mathematician recruited as a spy while at Oxford, and Karl Voss, a German military attaché she meets in Lisbon. Robert Wilson’s beautiful writing brought them to life for me in such a way that I can’t imagine I’ll ever forget them.
This is simply a brilliant story, filled with drama, suspense, intrigue, sadness and, ultimately, love. I read it first on Kindle and then bought it as a second-hand paper back published in 2001 by Harper Collins. I consider it a treasure and an absolute 5 star read
It is also a story of the complicated personal lives behind all of those scenes, full of tremendous depth and colour. At the soul of the book is the fateful, heart-wrenching love story between Andrea Aspinall, a young English mathematician recruited as a spy while at Oxford, and Karl Voss, a German military attaché she meets in Lisbon. Robert Wilson’s beautiful writing brought them to life for me in such a way that I can’t imagine I’ll ever forget them.
This is simply a brilliant story, filled with drama, suspense, intrigue, sadness and, ultimately, love. I read it first on Kindle and then bought it as a second-hand paper back published in 2001 by Harper Collins. I consider it a treasure and an absolute 5 star read
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