The Secret Generations
May, 1910
The world is on the eve of a war set to ruin the lives of a whole generation.
The Railton family are intimately involved in the world of espionage, which will become so crucial to the conflict’s outcome.
With the death of General Sir William Railton, the family patriarch and hero of Balaclava, the family is thrown into a world of violence and intrigue.
Manipulated by the new head of the family, the ruthless arch-intriguer Giles Railton, each member of the dynasty comes to play their part in the ‘Great Game’ of Intelligence.
Through the story of one family, whose lives become caught up in some of the greatest struggles of the twentieth century, John Gardner traces the birth, the successes and the failures of the organizations now known as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
From the battlefields of the Western Front to Russia on the eve of revolution, this epic work of fiction tells the story of the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services.
John Gardner
John Edmund Gardner was a British novelist. He was born in the village of Seaton Delaval in Northumberland as the son of a clergyman. He briefly attended Cottham’s Preparatory School in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1931, and after the family had moved to Wantage in Berkshire in 1933, King Alfred’s School 1934–1943. He joined the Home Guard at the start of the Second World War and in 1943 the Royal Marines. He left the army four years later as his father wanted him to read theology. He earned his BA at St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1950 and completed his degree at Oxford. Gardner was ordained into the Anglican Church in 1953.
The Secret Families Trilogy
The Secret Families Trilogy consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
