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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
When identities can be switched, how do you know whose motives to trust?
The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim puts switched identities and hidden motives at the heart of a mystery thriller. First published in 1920, the book invites you to question the link between who a person appears to be and what they intend.
The title places impersonation at the centre of the mystery. The subtitle, A Thriller of Switched Identities and Hidden Motives, gives you its essential tension: identity can mislead, and intentions remain concealed. If that combination draws you in, this is a book to open without knowing more.
What you’ll discover
- Oppenheim's mystery thriller Enter The Great Impersonation through its defining premise of switched identities and hidden motives.
- Identity as a puzzle Consider what you can trust when someone's apparent identity becomes an open question.
- Motives beneath the surface Look beyond an apparent identity to consider the intentions it might hide.
- A title worth questioning Keep the promise of The Great Impersonation in mind as you begin reading.
- A mystery from 1920 Explore a mystery thriller first published in 1920, with impersonation at its heart.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy spy stories, country house mysteries and tales of mistaken identity will find all three here, with a haunted wood and Europe on the edge of war.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A familiar face becomes a mystery
- A stolen identity serves a mission
- A lover threatens the disguise
- Hope for peace becomes a tool
- The estate holds another mystery
- Rosamund trusts kindness before a name
- Private secrets meet approaching war
- Public duty meets private love
- Every observer weighs the same face
Who’s who
- Everard DomineyA wasted English baronet found in the African bush, then a polished, wealthy man who returns to Norfolk and London after eleven years away.
- Baron Leopold von RagasteinA disciplined German commandant who looks very like Dominey and has secret orders to go and live in England as an Englishman.
- Otto SeamanA round, cheerful German naturalised in England, who runs a friendship league and quietly directs the German scheme.
- Rosamund, Lady DomineyA fragile, childlike woman once driven out of her mind by a night of blood, now sensing that her husband is not himself.
- Princess Stephanie EiderstromA rich, passionate Hungarian widow who recognises a lost lover in a stranger's face and refuses to give him up.
- Prince TerniloffThe German ambassador in London, a gentle idealist who works with all his heart for peace between the two countries.
- Caroline, Duchess of WorcesterDominey's sharp, affectionate cousin, who sees that something about him has changed and cannot stop watching him.
- Mrs. UnthankRoger's grim, grieving mother and Lady Dominey's attendant, who has sworn that the master of Dominey Hall is a murderer.
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The Great Impersonation
by E. Phillips Oppenheim · 1920
A baronet comes home to Norfolk after eleven years, and his own wife swears he is another man.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“But I follow my star.”
In short
What would you do if you met a stranger who looked exactly like you, only stronger, healthier and sure of his purpose? In a bamboo hut near the Iriwarri River, a worn-out English baronet wakes to find that man standing over his bed.
The Great Impersonation at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 55 min3 h 55 min fast, 5 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 69,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1920by E. Phillips Oppenheim
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two old schoolmates meet in the bush
Everard Dominey, an English baronet who has drifted through Africa for ten years, crashes his pony into a clearing near the Iriwarri River. His hired Askaris have looted his supplies and deserted. He wakes on a narrow bed in a German camp.
The camp belongs to Baron Leopold von Ragastein, the colony's commandant. The two men stare at each other, because they look remarkably alike. Then Dominey remembers a name from school and calls him Sigismund Devinter.
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Details
- First published
- 1920
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Oppenheim, E. Phillips. The Great Impersonation. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-great-impersonation.
Oppenheim, E. P. (2026). The great impersonation. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-great-impersonation (Original work published 1920)
Oppenheim, E. Phillips. The Great Impersonation. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-great-impersonation.
@book{oppenheim2026great,
author = {Oppenheim, E. Phillips},
title = {The Great Impersonation},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-great-impersonation},
note = {First published 1920}
}
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What is The Great Impersonation about?
It follows Everard Dominey, an English baronet who returns to London and Norfolk after eleven years in Africa. His wealth and manner astonish everyone, while German agents, a Hungarian princess and a ghost in the Black Wood all press on him.
Who is Leopold von Ragastein?
He is a German baron and military commandant in East Africa who looks remarkably like Dominey. The two were friends at Eton and Oxford, and his secret mission and the Princess's love for him run through the story.
What is the Black Wood in the novel?
It is a dark, boggy wood beside Dominey Hall, where a schoolmaster named Roger Unthank vanished after a fight with Dominey. Villagers believe his ghost howls beneath Lady Dominey's window, and no beater will enter it.
The author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
1866–1946 · English thriller novelist
Edward Phillips Oppenheim was an English novelist, born in London in 1866. He lived in Leicester and later on Guernsey, where he died in 1946. He wrote novels and short stories, including The Yellow Crayon (1903), The Zeppelin’s Passenger (1918), and The Great Impersonation (1920).
“But I follow my star.”
More by E. Phillips Oppenheim
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