My father died when I was young, and my mother, Ruth, went to work in an office selling theater and movie parties. She put me through private school, Horace Mann, in Riverdale. She sent me to camp so that I would learn to compete. She was a lioness, and I was her cub. Alan Furst campcompetecub share on social
What you get in the Cold War is 'the wilderness of mirrors' where you have to figure out what's good and what's evil. That's good for John le Carre, but not me. Alan Furst carrecoldevil Change image and share on social
You can't make accommodations in crucial situations and be heroic. Alan Furst accommodationcrucialheroic Change image and share on social
I think I honestly invented my own genre, the historical spy novel. Alan Furst genrehistoricalhonestly Change image and share on social
I'd never been in a police state. I didn't know what it was. I knew that it was, in the general way that people know that two and two is four, but it had no emotional value for me until I found myself in the middle of it. Alan Furst emotionalfindgeneral share on social
My theory is that sometimes writers write books because they want to read them, and they aren't there to be read. And I think that was true of me. Alan Furst bookreadtheory Change image and share on social
A book must have moral purpose to be any good. Why, I don't know. Alan Furst bookgoodmoral Change image and share on social
My grandmother, whom I adored, and who partly raised me, loved Liberace, and she watched Liberace every afternoon, and when she watched Liberace, she'd get dressed up and put on makeup because I think she thought if she could see Liberace, Liberace could see her. Alan Furst adoreafternoondress share on social
When I get asked about novelists I like, they tend to be white, male, and British, like Graham Greene. They write the kind of declarative sentences I like. I don't like to be deflected by acrobatics. Alan Furst acrobaticaskbritish Change image and share on social
