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The Devil's Paw
Excerpt from The Devil's Paw: A Novel
The two men, sole occupants of the somewhat shabby cottage parlour, lingered over their port, not so much with the air of wine lovers, but rather as human beings and intimates, perfectly content with their surroundings and company. Outside, the wind was howling over the marshes, and occasional bursts of rain came streaming against the window panes. Inside at any rate was comfort, triumphing over varying conditions. The cloth upon the plain deal table was of fine linen, the decanter and glasses were beautifully cut; there were walnuts and, in a far corner, cigars of a well-known brand and cigarettes from a famous tobacconist. Beyond that little oasis, however, were all the evidences of a hired abode. A hole in the closely drawn curtains was fastened together by a safety pin. The horsehair easy-chairs bore disfiguring antimacassars, the photographs which adorned the walls were grotesque but typical of village ideals, the carpet was threadbare, the closed door secured by a latch instead of the usual knob.
The two men, sole occupants of the somewhat shabby cottage parlour, lingered over their port, not so much with the air of wine lovers, but rather as human beings and intimates, perfectly content with their surroundings and company. Outside, the wind was howling over the marshes, and occasional bursts of rain came streaming against the window panes. Inside at any rate was comfort, triumphing over varying conditions. The cloth upon the plain deal table was of fine linen, the decanter and glasses were beautifully cut; there were walnuts and, in a far corner, cigars of a well-known brand and cigarettes from a famous tobacconist. Beyond that little oasis, however, were all the evidences of a hired abode. A hole in the closely drawn curtains was fastened together by a safety pin. The horsehair easy-chairs bore disfiguring antimacassars, the photographs which adorned the walls were grotesque but typical of village ideals, the carpet was threadbare, the closed door secured by a latch instead of the usual knob.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
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About the author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
631 books80 followersEdward Phillips Oppenheim was an English novelist, primarily known for his suspense fiction.
He was born in Leicester, the son of a leather merchant, and after attending Wyggeston Grammar School he worked in his father's business for almost 20 years, beginning there at a young age. He continued working in the business, even though he was a successful novelist, until he was 40 at which point he sold the business.
He wrote his first book 'Expiation' in 1887 and in 1898 he published 'The Mysterious Mr Sabin', which he described as "The first of my long series of stories dealing with that shadowy and mysterious world of diplomacy." Thereafter he became a prolific writer and by 1900 he had had 14 novels published.
While on a business trip to the United States in 1890 he met and married Elise Clara Hopkins of Boston and, on return to England, they lived in Evington, Leicestershire until the First World War,and had one daughter. His wife remained faithful to him throughout his life despite his frequent and highly publicised affairs, which often took place abroad and aboard his luxury yacht.
During World War I Oppenheim worked for the Ministry of Information while continuing to write his suspenseful novels.
He featured on the cover of 'Time' magazine on 12 September 1927 and he was the self-styled 'Prince of Storytellers', a title used by Robert standish for his biography of the author.
His literary success enabled him to buy a villa in France and a yacht, spending his winters in France where he regularly entertained more than 250 people at his lavish parties and where he was a well-known figure in high society.
He later purchased a house, Le Vanquiédor in St. Peter Port, in Guernsey. He lost access to the house during the Second World War when Germany occupied the Channel Islands but later regained it.
He wrote 116 novels, mainly of the suspense and international intrigue type, but including romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life, and 39 volumes of short stories, all of which earned him vast sums of money. He also wrote five novels under the pseudonymn Anthony Partridge and a volume of autobiography, 'The Pool of Memory' in 1939.
He is generally regarded as the earliest writer of spy fiction as we know it today, and invented the 'Rogue Male' school of adventure thrillers that was later exploited by John Buchan and Geoffrey Household.
Undoubtedly his most renowned work was 'The Great Impersonation' (1920), which was filmed three times, the last time as a strong piece of wartime propaganda in 1942. In that novel the plot hinges around two very similar looking gentlemen, one from Britain and the other from Germany, in the early part of the 20th century. Overall more than 30 of his works were made into films.
Perhaps his most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of 'General Besserley's Puzzle Box' and 'General Besserley's New Puzzle Box'.
Much of his work possesses a unique escapist charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law.
Gerry Wolstenholme
He was born in Leicester, the son of a leather merchant, and after attending Wyggeston Grammar School he worked in his father's business for almost 20 years, beginning there at a young age. He continued working in the business, even though he was a successful novelist, until he was 40 at which point he sold the business.
He wrote his first book 'Expiation' in 1887 and in 1898 he published 'The Mysterious Mr Sabin', which he described as "The first of my long series of stories dealing with that shadowy and mysterious world of diplomacy." Thereafter he became a prolific writer and by 1900 he had had 14 novels published.
While on a business trip to the United States in 1890 he met and married Elise Clara Hopkins of Boston and, on return to England, they lived in Evington, Leicestershire until the First World War,and had one daughter. His wife remained faithful to him throughout his life despite his frequent and highly publicised affairs, which often took place abroad and aboard his luxury yacht.
During World War I Oppenheim worked for the Ministry of Information while continuing to write his suspenseful novels.
He featured on the cover of 'Time' magazine on 12 September 1927 and he was the self-styled 'Prince of Storytellers', a title used by Robert standish for his biography of the author.
His literary success enabled him to buy a villa in France and a yacht, spending his winters in France where he regularly entertained more than 250 people at his lavish parties and where he was a well-known figure in high society.
He later purchased a house, Le Vanquiédor in St. Peter Port, in Guernsey. He lost access to the house during the Second World War when Germany occupied the Channel Islands but later regained it.
He wrote 116 novels, mainly of the suspense and international intrigue type, but including romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life, and 39 volumes of short stories, all of which earned him vast sums of money. He also wrote five novels under the pseudonymn Anthony Partridge and a volume of autobiography, 'The Pool of Memory' in 1939.
He is generally regarded as the earliest writer of spy fiction as we know it today, and invented the 'Rogue Male' school of adventure thrillers that was later exploited by John Buchan and Geoffrey Household.
Undoubtedly his most renowned work was 'The Great Impersonation' (1920), which was filmed three times, the last time as a strong piece of wartime propaganda in 1942. In that novel the plot hinges around two very similar looking gentlemen, one from Britain and the other from Germany, in the early part of the 20th century. Overall more than 30 of his works were made into films.
Perhaps his most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of 'General Besserley's Puzzle Box' and 'General Besserley's New Puzzle Box'.
Much of his work possesses a unique escapist charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law.
Gerry Wolstenholme
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 12, 2009
E. Phillips Oppenheim's writing is adroit, with a capital A. He was known in his day (1890s to the 1930s) as the Prince of Storytellers. His plotting is as smooth as silk, with the complementary virtue of creating believable characters of genuine sophistication and wit. Apparently he also wrote with ease, publishing three or four novels or short story collections a year, which often resulted in stories which run out of steam towards the end and come dangerously close to being formula fiction.
The Devil's Paw is a prime example of his virtues and defects. Taking place In England during World War I, the plot, about an attempted Bolshevik-style revolution in the name of peace, begins as both an exciting thriller and a brilliant dramatization of the political idea that wars that defeat tyrants are often necessary to protect a free society. Peace is not a primary virtue. Alas, the story takes the most obvious and conventional route, and the many possibilities for developing a more inspired and effective plot are ignored. From better novels, like The Great Impersonation and The Evil Shepherd, it is clear Oppenheim could have followed through with these possibilities. I still, however, recommend this to fans of the spy thriller and World War I history.
The Devil's Paw is a prime example of his virtues and defects. Taking place In England during World War I, the plot, about an attempted Bolshevik-style revolution in the name of peace, begins as both an exciting thriller and a brilliant dramatization of the political idea that wars that defeat tyrants are often necessary to protect a free society. Peace is not a primary virtue. Alas, the story takes the most obvious and conventional route, and the many possibilities for developing a more inspired and effective plot are ignored. From better novels, like The Great Impersonation and The Evil Shepherd, it is clear Oppenheim could have followed through with these possibilities. I still, however, recommend this to fans of the spy thriller and World War I history.
May 9, 2018
I found it to be full of suspense; maybe not for the reasons the author intended, but suspenseful none the less. I wanted this story to go in another direction, so the actual solution, though better than what I feared really wasn’t satisfying either. Looking back, I can say I enjoyed the story until the end and was then thoroughly disappointed.
Only if you really want the plot spoiled should you read the rest of my review.
Only if you really want the plot spoiled should you read the rest of my review.
November 29, 2023
بما أني أول من سيكتب مراجعة بالعربية، فسأحاول بقدر الإمكان أن أجعلها شاملة للنقاط الهامة لأي قارئ يريد قرائتها.
رواية "مخلب الشيطان" للكاتب الإنجليزي إ. فيليب أوبنهيم، تقع أحداثها في إنجلترا حول فترة الحرب العالمية الأولى.
احترت في تصنيفها، بوليسية لإحتوائها على الألغاز و بعض التحريات، و إجتماعية سياسية لما بها من مؤامرات حرب، و بالإمكان كذلك تصنيفها جزئياً بأنها عاطفية.
أكثر ما عجبني بها هي بعض الحوارات، خاصة التي قام بها بكل الرواية جوليان أو البطلة كاثرين مع الآخرين، و كذلك مع بعضيهما.
أكثر ما لم ينل إعجابي هو الصورة النمطية المثالية للبطل و البطلة اللذين بوجود أحدهما أو كليهما يتم حل جميع مشاكل العالم، كذلك بعض الأفكار التي تقبلتها أثناء القراءة فقط لأن الكاتب من عالم و زمن مختلفين عن عالمي و زمني.
المحصلة أني استمعت إلى حد كبير بالقراءة، و أنوي قراءة باقي مؤلفات الكاتب المترجمة للعربية... تقييمي للرواية 3⭐ و نجمة إضافية للحوارات المتميزة.
تجدونها بأكثر من صيغة رقمية على موقع هنداوي.
رواية "مخلب الشيطان" للكاتب الإنجليزي إ. فيليب أوبنهيم، تقع أحداثها في إنجلترا حول فترة الحرب العالمية الأولى.
احترت في تصنيفها، بوليسية لإحتوائها على الألغاز و بعض التحريات، و إجتماعية سياسية لما بها من مؤامرات حرب، و بالإمكان كذلك تصنيفها جزئياً بأنها عاطفية.
أكثر ما عجبني بها هي بعض الحوارات، خاصة التي قام بها بكل الرواية جوليان أو البطلة كاثرين مع الآخرين، و كذلك مع بعضيهما.
أكثر ما لم ينل إعجابي هو الصورة النمطية المثالية للبطل و البطلة اللذين بوجود أحدهما أو كليهما يتم حل جميع مشاكل العالم، كذلك بعض الأفكار التي تقبلتها أثناء القراءة فقط لأن الكاتب من عالم و زمن مختلفين عن عالمي و زمني.
المحصلة أني استمعت إلى حد كبير بالقراءة، و أنوي قراءة باقي مؤلفات الكاتب المترجمة للعربية... تقييمي للرواية 3⭐ و نجمة إضافية للحوارات المتميزة.
تجدونها بأكثر من صيغة رقمية على موقع هنداوي.
February 27, 2025
Published two years after World War I, ‘The Devil's Paw’ discusses, with some degree of accuracy, some of the causes of the Great War: the rise of the labour unions in Germany and England, the growing militancy and aggressive attitude of pre-war Germany, the power of the Kaiser and the Hohenzollern dynasty, coupled with the ill-preparedness for war in England, attributable to the politicians and aristocracy.
E Philip Oppenheim, like John Buchan, had almost an instinctive feel for good plot structure as well as an understanding of the serious political developments of the day. Add to his other talents that of good story-telling in terse, gripping language, and the suspense never lets up. This is a chilling tale of idealism, courage, and treachery (the devil's paw) delivered with grace.
E Philip Oppenheim, like John Buchan, had almost an instinctive feel for good plot structure as well as an understanding of the serious political developments of the day. Add to his other talents that of good story-telling in terse, gripping language, and the suspense never lets up. This is a chilling tale of idealism, courage, and treachery (the devil's paw) delivered with grace.
May 1, 2018
It was a good story- well written. It is written about the time of the first world war and takes place in England.
Lots of intrigue - keeps you guessing.
Lots of intrigue - keeps you guessing.
December 29, 2015
This novel is a suspense thriller taking place during World War-I in England. The story is fast paced and the plot is clever. Except for a few conversations related to the political ideologies of those times which I'm not at all familiar with, I enjoyed this novel very much.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews