Le Ministère de la Peur

This is one of Greene’s great espionage novels, first published in London in 1943. It follows Arthur Rowe, an escapee from an asylum who, by chance guessing the correct weight of a cake at a village fete, wins the prize and unwittingly becomes the owner of a highly coveted microfilm hidden inside it. Rowe finds himself caught up with the mysterious officials of the Ministry of Fear, a German organization operating at the heart of London during the Blitz. The novel was adapted for the screen by Fritz Lang, marking his sixth American feature film since fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933.