From Russia, with Love

Novel, Spy fiction by Ian Fleming

Blurb

From Russia, with Love is the fifth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957. As with the first four books, From Russia, with Love was generally well received by the critics. The story was written at Fleming's Goldeneye estate in Jamaica in early 1956. By the time the book was published, he did not know whether he wanted to write another Bond book or not.
The story centres on a plot by SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency, to assassinate Bond in such a way as to discredit both him and his organisation, the Secret Service. As bait for the plot, the Russians use a beautiful cipher clerk and the Spektor, a Soviet decoding machine. Much of the action takes place in Istanbul and on the Orient Express.
The novel's sales were aided by an advertising campaign that played upon a visit by British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden to Fleming's Goldeneye estate and by the publication of a 1961 Life Magazine article, which listed From Russia, with Love as one of US President John F. Kennedy's ten favourite books.

First Published

1957

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