10 h 10 minAudiobook18 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 10 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A false name may keep an agent alive. One wrong word may give him away.
In Okewood of the Secret Service, Valentine Williams follows an agent through the hidden struggle of the First World War. This is a world of borrowed clothes, hurried trains and rooms where speech carries danger. Okewood must rely on disguise and quick thinking, with the threat of discovery close at hand.
The adventure turns on pursuit and deception rather than deep psychology. False identities demand more than a change of clothes: an agent must look, speak and behave like someone else. Williams brings a journalist’s and soldier’s background to a brisk wartime story, where movement matters and a moment’s hesitation can carry a deadly cost.
What you’ll discover
- A war behind the front Enter the secret struggle where an agent’s words can be as dangerous as weapons.
- Disguise as a weapon Follow a hero whose borrowed identity depends on how he looks, speaks and behaves.
- The pull of pursuit Feel the pressure of a plot that keeps danger and quick thinking close together.
- Danger in ordinary places Hurried trains and quiet rooms become places where one mistake can prove fatal.
- Early spy adventure Discover the brisk pleasures of wartime intrigue, false names and a resourceful agent.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like wartime intrigue, clever disguises, secret doors, foggy marshes and a hero who acts on instinct. It suits fans of early spy fiction and of detective tales with a daring, human touch.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A night at the music hall
- A little box and a dead man
- A prisoner's story and a German bullet
- The Chief explains the game
- A new face made on a night train
- The Mill House and its visitors
- A cupboard, a library and a loose set of Shakespeare
- Barbara takes a hand
- A dancer's confession and a window on the fen
- What the book is really about
Who’s who
- Desmond OkewoodA young brigade major on leave from the front. He is brave and impulsive, and he agrees to become a spy in disguise.
- Barbara MackwayteThe Chief's clever secretary and a music-hall comedian's daughter. She is sharp, loyal and steady, and she ends up holding a dangerous secret.
- The ChiefThe head of the Secret Service. He is cool and watchful, shares almost nothing, and wants a network of spies broken.
- Nur-el-DinA glamorous Oriental dancer and the toast of London. She hides a hunted look and asks a favor that puts others in danger.
- Maurice StrangwiseA handsome Canadian captain who has escaped from a German prison camp. He is Desmond's friend from the front and always smiling.
- Inspector MarigoldA calm, careful Scotland Yard detective who is not as easily satisfied as he seems and wants the whole truth of the murder.
- Arthur MackwayteAn old music-hall comedian, kind and modest, who is given one big night at the Palaceum and wants only to see his daughter well.
- CrookA small, gray-bearded makeup expert who studies a prisoner for days so that he can turn Desmond into his double.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 10 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 18 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Okewood del Servicio Secreto
by Valentine Williams · 1918
A soldier home on leave is told to die on paper so he can live as a German spy in disguise.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Okewood of the Secret Service is a spy novel by Valentine Williams, set in London and the Essex marshes in the last years of the First World War. Williams wrote it as a wartime adventure.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A night at the music hall
The story opens in the cheap little home of Arthur Mackwayte, an old music-hall comedian who sketches London street characters. He is gentle, shy and short of work, because the new fashion for revues has pushed out the kind of act he has performed for twenty-five years. His daughter Barbara works at the War Office, and she looks after him with fierce affection. One evening a telephone call from the Palaceum theater offers him a single night in place of an injured act.
Barbara packs his theater trunk, goes with him to the vast stage, and watches from the wings as he plays an old London bus driver. The stage manager, Fletcher, is kind to him. He warns Mackwayte that he is on just before the biggest attraction in town, a dancer called Nur-el-Din. She is said to be a wonder, and a terror to work with, because she keeps the stage waiting night after night.
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What is Okewood of the Secret Service about?
It follows Major Desmond Okewood, called home from the front to take part in a secret mission. He must pose as a captured German agent to expose a spy ring that sends news of troop movements to the enemy.
Who is Nur-el-Din in the book?
She is a glamorous Oriental dancer who stars at a London theater. The Chief suspects she is linked to the spy ring, and she is also hiding a precious secret that draws everyone around her into danger.
Who is Mr. Marigold?
Marigold is a Scotland Yard detective who investigates the murder at Seven Kings. He is quiet, polite and observant, and he works alongside the Chief and Desmond, following small clues such as a hair and a leave pass.
The author
Valentine Williams
1883–1946 · British journalist and novelist
Valentine Williams (1883–1946) was a British journalist and fiction writer. He was born in London and died in New York. He worked as a newspaper correspondent and wrote novels about spies and secret agents. His books include Okewood of the Secret Service, published in 1918.
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