Published in 1903, Erskine Childers’s The Riddle of the Sands predicted the threat of war with Germany and was so prescient in its identification of the British coast’s defensive weaknesses that it influenced the siting of new naval bases. The writing is gripping and it’s a marvel that Childers manages to make the minutiae of sailing and navigation so engrossing. Although Riddle was an instant bestseller, Childers never wrote another novel, concentrating instead on military strategy manuals before entering politics and eventually becoming a fervent Irish nationalist.
Riddle of the Sands
