The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Version 2) - Joseph Conrad

The Secret Agent tells the story of Adolf and Winnie Verloc. He is a phony anarchist and agent provocateur of the title, and the plot centres around the terrible consequences for their family when he is pressured into planning a terrorist act. It also bleakly satirises early 20th Century anarchism and the operations of the police and intelligence forces, while being none too complimentary about the media and general public either. Summary by Cori Samuel.