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007 Book: From Russia, with Love (1957)

June 27, 2014 0 By 007 Travelers

Bond book: From Russia, with Love

Publication date: 8 April 1957

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. There have been four adaptations of the book: a serialisation in the Daily Express newspaper, a subsequent daily comic strip by Henry Gammidge and John McLusky in the same paper, the 1963 film version, and a 2012 BBC radio adaptation of the same name, produced by Jarvis & Ayres and starring Toby Stephens.

Part One. The Plan

1. Roseland
2. The Slaughterer
3. Post-graduate Studies
4. The Moguls of Death
5. Konspiratsia
6. Death Warrant
7. The Wizard of Ice
8. The Beautiful Lure
9. A Labour of Love
10. The Fuse Burns

Part Two. The Execution

11. The Soft Life
12. A Piece of Cake
13. ‘BEA Takes You There…’
14. Darko Kerim
15. Background to a Spy
16. The Tunnel of Rats
17. Killing Time
18. Strong Sensations
19. The Mouth of Marilyn Monroe
20. Black on Pink
21. Orient Express
22. Out of Turkey
23. Out of Greece
24. Out of Danger
25. A Tie with a Windsor Knot
26. The Killing Bottle
27. Ten Pints of Blood
28. La Tricoteuse