Riassunto
Riassunto di Il passeggero dello Zeppelin
A chi è rivolto
Readers who like wartime spy stories, drawing-room conversation with danger underneath, and clever puzzles about who is fooling whom. It suits anyone who enjoys a love triangle set against secrets and storms.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Zeppelin's Passenger is a spy novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim, who died in 1946. It was written during the First World War and plays on the fears of its day. A German airship crosses a quiet English coast, and something falls from it. The book follows what that something does next.
The setting is Dreymarsh, a small seaside town in Norfolk where soldiers train and gossip travels fast. At the center stand Lady Philippa Cranston, her husband Sir Henry, and her friend Helen Fairclough. Helen's fiancé, Major Richard Felstead, is a prisoner in Germany. Then a stranger walks into their library with news of him.
You get a story of divided loyalties. It has a marriage under strain, a suspicious commandant, a storm at sea and a charming enemy who is poor at his trade. It also has a puzzle about what a harmless village could hold that a spy would want. Let us begin with a hat found in a bush on Dutchman's Common.
In questo riassunto
- 1A Zeppelin Loses Its Observation CarFree
- 2A Stranger Arrives Through the French Windows
- 3The Price of a Brother's Life
- 4Sir Henry, the Idler with a Secret Cabinet
- 5Love Grows Between Two Sides of the War
- 6London, a Chart and Cold Orders
- 7Captain Griffiths Closes In
- 8What the Story Is Really About
- 9How the Story Is Told
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A Zeppelin Loses Its Observation Car
The story opens at tea in a comfortable house near Dreymarsh. Young officers from the local Depot are talking about a Zeppelin that crossed the coast in the night. It lost its observation car on Dutchman's Common, and Captain Griffiths, the Commandant, oversaw its removal. He says it held only a hard seat, field glasses and a telephone.
The talk shifts when Helen Fairclough mentions that she has had no word from Major Felstead for two months. He is her fiancé and the only brother of Lady Cranston, the hostess. Taken prisoner in a disaster called the Pervais affair, he was sent to Wittenberg, which Helen calls the worst camp in Germany. Her eyes grow misty as she speaks.
Nora, Sir Henry's schoolgirl daughter by his first marriage, bursts in with a trophy. It is a man's Homburg hat found in a bush close to where the car came down. Inside the lining are gold letters giving a hatmaker's address in Berlin. The young officers pretend that the War Office must have it, and Nora refuses.
Lady Cranston, whose name is Philippa, arrives home from London. She is worn out and has learned nothing about her twin brother. The Admiralty has not found a place for her husband either, and she is bitter about that. Griffiths watches her with an awkward devotion that she does not return.
This opening plants several things the rest of the book needs. There is a hat, a small town on guard, two women waiting for news, and a Commandant who notices everything. It also shows how ordinary the house is. That makes what walks into it next feel stranger.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Il passeggero dello Zeppelin
What is The Zeppelin's Passenger about?
It follows a German agent who drops from a Zeppelin onto the Norfolk coast and talks his way into the home of Lady Cranston. Her brother is a prisoner of war, and a dangerous bargain begins.
Who is Hamar Lessingham in The Zeppelin's Passenger?
He is the name used by Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a Swede who serves Germany. He studied at Magdalen College with Richard Felstead and uses that old friendship to enter the Cranston household.
Is The Zeppelin's Passenger a true story?
No, it is fiction by E. Phillips Oppenheim, written during the First World War. It draws on real fears of the time, including Zeppelin raids, spies on the coast and the war at sea.
Is The Zeppelin's Passenger easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the story moves through short chapters and plenty of lively conversation. The plain, clear style and the steady suspense make it easy to follow, whether you read it or hear it.
What is the main message of The Zeppelin's Passenger?
The book shows that appearances can mislead, whether in a husband, a stranger or a spy. It also asks how far love and decency can stretch when duty and the war pull people in different directions.