Charles Cumming
A Spy By Nature
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street,
London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd. 2001
Copyright © Charles Cumming 2001
Extract from The Sportswriter copyright © Richard Ford.
Published in Great Britain by Harvill Press 1986
Extract from The Uses of Enchantment copyright © Bruno Bettelheim.
Published in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson 1976
Extract from Rabbit Redux copyright © John Updike.
Published in Great Britain by André Deutsch 1972
‘Fake Plastic Trees’ Words and Music by Thom Yorke, Edward O’Brien, Colin Greenwood, Jonathan Greenwood and Philip Selway © 1994 Warner/Chappell Music Ltd., London W6 8BS.
Reproduced by permission of International Music Publications Ltd.
Charles Cumming asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007416912
Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007416905
Version: 2017-06-27
Dedication
For Melissa
Epigraph
I remember, in fact, the Lebanese woman I knew at Berkshire College saying to me, after I told her how much I loved her: ‘I’ll always tell you the truth, unless of course I’m lying to you.’
Richard Ford, The Sportswriter
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Part One
1995
One
An Exploratory Conversation
Two
Official Secrets
Three
Tuesday, 4 July
Four
Positive Vetting
Five
Day One/Morning
Six
Day One/Afternoon
Seven
Day Two
Eight
Pursuit of Happiness
Nine
This is Your Life
Ten
Meaning
Part Two
1996
Eleven
Caspian
Twelve
My Fellow Americans
Thirteen
The Searchers
Fourteen
The Call
Fifteen
Tiramisu
Sixteen
Hawkes
Seventeen
The Special Relationship
Eighteen
Sharp Practice
Nineteen
Seize the Day
Twenty
Creating Justify
Twenty-One
Being Rick
Twenty-Two
Plausible Deniability
Twenty-Three
The Case
Twenty-Four
Final Analysis
Part Three
1997
Twenty-Five
The Lure
Twenty-Six
