Whatsoever a Man Soweth

by William Le Queux

Overview

Thank you for checking out this book by Theophania Publishing. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon. We have thousands of titles available, and we invite you to search for us by name, contact us via our website, or download our most recent catalogues. William Le Queux, writer and journalist, was a master of the spy genre, whose writing is known to be a significant influence on Ian Fleming's James Bond. His best known novels deliver a reality with military and espionage themes, so much so that the political establishment of his time attempted to silence him. Besides being a novelist and journalist, he was also a diplomat and world traveler, and often drew upon his experiences and adventures to color his narratives. His characters are often influenced by his traveling, his journalism, and his adventures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781023203654
Publisher:	Anson Street Press
Publication date:	03/28/2025
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

William Le Queux (1864–1927) was a prolific Anglo-French novelist, journalist, and self-styled authority on espionage and international intrigue. Born in London to a French father and an English mother, he grew up in a household marked by cultural hybridity, an influence that shaped both his cosmopolitan worldview and his enduring fascination with foreign politics. His early years included extensive travel across Europe, particularly in France, Italy, and Russia, experiences that informed his later fiction and lent it a veneer of authenticity that captivated contemporary audiences.

Le Queux’s career as a writer began in journalism, where his talent for sensational reportage and his eye for the dramatic quickly earned him recognition. He became known for his vivid war correspondence and for his ability to dramatize political conflicts in ways that engaged the popular imagination. This journalistic flair translated seamlessly into his novels, which often blurred the line between fiction and fact. Readers of his era frequently credited him with uncanny foresight, as several of his books seemed to anticipate geopolitical developments and military conflicts, most famously in works like The Invasion of 1910.

As a novelist, Le Queux produced more than 150 books, ranging from spy thrillers and adventure tales to crime stories and romances. His enduring reputation rests primarily on his contribution to the development of spy fiction as a genre, alongside figures such as Erskine Childers and later John Buchan. Yet Le Queux’s novels also reveal a deep concern with morality, consequence, and the hidden undercurrents of society. His ability to combine melodramatic storytelling with moral themes ensured his popularity with a wide audience.

Though some critics dismissed him as sensationalist, Le Queux was a literary innovator who gave voice to the anxieties of an age marked by imperial rivalry, espionage fears, and shifting moral codes. He also cultivated a public persona as a man of mystery, often exaggerating his own involvement in espionage activities to heighten the allure of his work. Regardless of the mythmaking, his cultural impact was undeniable: he brought espionage narratives to the forefront of popular fiction and helped shape early 20th-century literary tastes.