The English Girl (Gabriel Allon #13)
Daniel Silva, 2013
HarperCollins
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062270924
Summary
Seven days.... One girl.... No second chances.
Madeline Hart is a rising star in Britain's governing party: beautiful, intelligent, driven by an impoverished childhood to succeed. But she is also a woman with a dark secret: she is the lover of Prime Minister Jonathan Lancaster. Somehow, her kidnappers have learned of the affair, and they intend to make the British leader pay dearly for his sins. Fearful of a scandal that will destroy his career, Lancaster decides to handle the matter privately rather than involve the British police. It is a risky gambit, not only for the prime minister but also for the operative who will conduct the search.
You have seven days, or the girl dies.
Enter Gabriel Allon—master assassin, art restorer and spy—who is no stranger to dangerous assignments or political intrigue. With the clock ticking, Gabriel embarks on a desperate attempt to bring Madeline home safely. His mission takes him from the criminal underworld of Marseilles to an isolated valley in the mountains of Provence to the stately if faded corridors of power in London—and, finally, to a pulse-pounding climax in Moscow, a city of violence and spies where there is a long list of men who wish Gabriel dead.
From the novel's opening pages until the shocking ending when the true motives behind Madeline's disappearance are revealed, The English Girl will hold readers spellbound. It is a timely reminder that, in today's world, money often matters more than ideology. And it proves once again why Daniel Silva has been called his generation's finest writer of suspense and foreign intrigue. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 30, 1959
• Where—Michigan, USA
• Raised—California
• Currently—lives in Washington, D.C.
Daniel Silva was attending graduate school in San Francisco when United Press International offered him a temporary job covering the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Later that year, the wire service offered him full-time employment; he quit grad school and went to work for UPI—first in San Francisco, then in Washington, D.C., and finally as a Middle East Correspondent posted in Cairo. While covering the Iran-Iraq War in 1987, he met NBC correspondent Jamie Gangel. They married, and Silva returned to Washington to take a job with CNN.
Silva was still at CNN when, with the encouragement of his wife, he began work on his first novel, a WWII espionage thriller. Published in 1997, The Unlikely Spy became a surprise bestseller and garnered critical acclaim. ("Evocative.... Memorable..." said the Washington Post; "Briskly suspenseful," raved the New York Times). On the heels of this somewhat unexpected success, Silva quit his job to concentrate on writing.
Other books followed, all earning respectable reviews; but it was Silva's fourth novel that proved to be his big breakthrough. Featuring a world-famous art restorer and sometime Israeli agent named Gabriel Allon, The Kill Artist (2000) fired public imagination and soared to the top of the bestseller charts. Gabriel Allon has gone on to star in several sequels, and his creator has become one of our foremost novelists of espionage intrigue, earning comparisons to such genre superstars as John le Carre, Frederick Forsythe, and Robert Ludlum. Silva's books have been translated into more than 25 languages and have been published around the world. (From Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
[Silva’s] 13 Gabriel Allon novels have both entertained and informed tens of millions of readers about the realities of world in which we live more than any other writer over the past decade…. You will read the book in at most a couple of sittings.
National Examiner
Although Gabriel’s adventures are set in the real world of greedy politicians and grabs for control of a diminishing supply of natural resources, ‘Israel’s avenging angel’ has the superhuman abilities that make for a satisfying fantasy.
St. Louis Dispatch
This is thriller writing at the highest level, offering up a tight plot, believable characters, and an ending that even the most jaded of readers probably won’t see coming.
Denver Post
Fast-paced intrigue and provocative characters make this a fine addition to an outstanding series.
People Magazine
Allon is a great political operative, but Silva is an even greater writer. That is what makes The English Girl a must read.
Huffington Post
Someone once said that their favorite books are ones that entertain and inform at the same time. The English Girl is one of those novels….A top-notch, old-fashioned East-meets-West, cloak-and-dagger thriller.
Bookreporter.com
One of the more unusual literary spies is Gabriel Allon, an Israeli intelligence officer who wants to retire so he can continue as an artist restoring damaged master artworks. But life interferes, and thank goodness, because otherwise we wouldn’t have such great novels from Daniel Silva.
Lincoln Joural Star
Spectacular....This captivating new page-turner from the undisputed master of spy fiction is sure to thrill new and old fans alike.
D.C. Spotlight
To call The English Girl a page turner is an oversimplification. Smart, unpredictable, and packed with bits of history, art, heart, and imagination, this is a page turner to be savored.... And it’s been a while since I grabbed anyone by the lapels and said, “Read this now,” so let me strongly suggest that you take The English Girl to the beach, or wherever summer may take you.
Neal Thompson - Amazon Best Book of the Month
As usual, Silva takes the reader hostage from page one with his canny mix of spy craft and suspense…. Silva’s ongoing ability to combine le Carre-like texture with high energy plotting has produced a string of commercial and critical successes. Chalk up another one.
Booklist
Silva drops Israeli superspy Gabriel Allon into a fractious encounter with the KGB's ugly remnants. Ambivalent and angst-filled agent Allon prefers painting, along with his passion for restoring the artwork of the masters.... But duty calls.... Silva's...accomplished character sketches...are captivating. Nevertheless, Silva seems intent on...lacing the narrative with historical factoids and geographical minutia each time Allon sets foot in a new locale. Literate, top-notch action laced with geopolitical commentary.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Gabriel Allon has settled with Chiara in Jerusalem. Considering this location and the specific description of their home at the beginning of Chapter 3, how would you describe the state he's in at this point in his life?
2. Consider the fictional version of the painting of Susanna and the Elders believed to be by Jacopo Bassano. What do the details offered about her story add to how you think about Madeline Hart?
3. Gabriel, once a talented painter of original works, admits he began to study art restoration because his profound and brutal three-year experience at the center of operation Wrath of God changed him. What might he have lost that a creative artist needs?
4. Graham Seymour, Deputy Director of Britain's MI5, is close to Gabriel as fellow members of "a secret brotherhood who did the unpleasant chores no one else was willing to do" to keep their countries safe. What else accounts for Gabriel's willingness to trust and work with him?
5. Seymour responds to Gabriel's compliment about an esteemed career by saying that "it's difficult to measure success in the security business, isn't it? We're judged on things that don't happen—the secrets that aren't stolen, the buildings that don't explode. It can be...profoundly unsatisfying." What are other important careers or actions that prove difficult to measure regarding success?
6. After Madeline is kidnapped, she appears in a video "as if she were responding to questions posed by a television interview." What connotations does this simile, another journalistic reference, add to the scene?
7. In what various ways does the relationship between Gabriel and Chiara demonstrate real equality? In what ways are they valuably different?
8. What layers of meaning are added to the novel by the fictional discovery and museum exhibition of the "twenty-two pillars of Solomon's Temple"?
9. How does Chiara's tragic experience at the hands of Ivan Kharkov and that of Gabriel's first wife and only son Daniel affect Gabriel's decisions and actions regarding Madeline Hart?
10. What does the location of Corsica and what goes on there bring to the novel? What about the details of the macchia?
11. Examine the fascinating character of the signadora. What does her supernatural presence and behavior bring to the novel? How does this fit or contradict Gabriel's belief system, one quite important to how he goes about his job? What are the possible benefits or dangers of belief in such a medium?
12. Consider the character of Christopher Keller and his elaborate evolution from upper-middle-class Brit to rebellious soldier and top member of the SAS's Regiment to presumed dead rogue assassin-for-hire employed by Don Orsati. In what ways are he and Gabriel similar or different?
13. Explain the details and psychology that allows Gabriel to trust and work with Keller, someone who was at one point hired to kill him. What qualities are necessary to transform a work relationship into a friendship?
14. What does the banter between Gabriel and Christopher Keller add to the novel? What's the role of humor in a work of such weighty subject matter?
15. Consider the many artists and works of art mentioned throughout the novel (Bassano, Viktor Frankel, Bellini's San Zaccaria altarpiece, Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Puccini, Wagner, Dumas, Dickens, Forster, etc.). What specific and overall effects do such references have?
16. A number of times Gabriel mentions the immense amount of waiting, often intense or stressful waiting, "always the waiting." What's challenging about such a seemingly simple activity?
17. Will Gabriel make a good director of Israel's secret intelligence service? Why or why not?
18. What profound effects would becoming a father again have on Gabriel?
(Questions issued by publisher.)