A SPY OF THE OLD SCHOOL by Rathbone, Julian

New York, 1983, Pantheon, US first edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, FINE/FINE CONDITION, 272 pages.-----------------------------------------------------Richard Austen is one of England's leadingarchaeologists, a well-known pillar of the Establishment. He is also a communist spy—a man who during World War II passed on to the Russians vital information about British code breaking.Julian Rathbone's new book blends his talent for writing brilliant thrillers—his Euro-Killers and other books have won international praise—with the insights that have twice made his works runners-up for Britain's distinguished Booker Prize. Rathbone unravels the fascinating story of a man who thinks he has covered his trail, safely juggling his dual loyalties, and then suddenly finds himself facing exposure. As the gilded exterior is slowly chipped away, we see a man trapped both by his present pursuers and by the conflicting loyalties of his past. Rathbone has captured perfectly the atmosphere that led so many distinguished Englishmen to opt for communism in the thirties and forties, while at the same time dramatically portraying the image of a privileged life crumbling before one's eyes.