The Lifeline

Phyllis Bottome taught Ian Fleming to write. Published 7 years before Fleming’ s Casino Royale.

Mark Chalmers, 36, dark haired, athletic, keen on skiing and winter sports, speaks fluent French and German and has a taste for wine, food and women. Sounds familiar?

It is 1938, pre the Munich Agreement and post Anschluss. Chalmers, a master at Eton, is recruited by an old friend at the Foreign Office and introduced to his boss ‘ B’ . Chalmers reluctantly agrees to take on a hazardous mission for ...