Alan Furst

Alan Furst (; born 1941) is an American author of historical spy novels. Furst has been called "an heir to the tradition of Eric Ambler and Graham Greene," whom he cites along with Joseph Roth and Arthur Koestler as important influences. Most of his novels since 1988 have been set just prior to or during the Second World War and he is noted for his successful evocations of Eastern European peoples and places during the period from 1933 to 1944.

Biography Furst was born in New York City, and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His family has ancestors in Poland, Latvia, and Russia. His great-grandfather was drafted into the Russian army, and, as a Jew, was required to serve 20 years.

While attending general studies courses at Columbia University, he became acquainted with Margaret Mead, for whom he later worked. Awarded a Fulbright teaching fellowship in 1969, Furst moved to Sommières, France, outside of Montpellier, and taught at the University of Montpellier. He later lived for many years in Paris, a city that he calls "the heart of civilisation" which figures significantly in all his novels.

In 2011, the Tulsa Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma selected Furst to receive its Helmerich Award, a literary prize given annually to honor a distinguished author's body of work.

In 2012, he appeared in a documentary about the life and work of author W. Somerset Maugham, Revealing Mr. Maugham.

Works

Stand-alone novel Shadow Trade (1983)

Roger Levin Your Day in the Barrel (1976) The Paris Drop (1980) The Caribbean Account (1981)

Night Soldiers novels

Night Soldiers (1988) Dark Star (1991) The Polish Officer (1995) The World at Night (1996) Red Gold (1999) Kingdom of Shadows (2000) Blood of Victory (2003) Dark Voyage (2004) The Foreign Correspondent (2006) The Spies of Warsaw (2008) Spies of the Balkans (2010) Mission to Paris (2012) Midnight in Europe (2014) A Hero of France (2016) Under Occupation (2019)