Throw away that stuff and have a Scotch.’ ‘Have you decided on a cleaner yet?’ Wormold asked for the sake of conversation.” And what’s your choice today? A dimpled Haig?’ I collect miniatures and I have ninety-nine at home.’ Wonderful,’ he repeated, lowering his voice with respect. ‘Eighteen different kinds of Scotch,… the stranger said, ‘including Black Label.

‘Well I never,’ he said, ‘Mr Wormold, isn’t it?’ Wormold wondered how he knew his name, for he had forgotten to give him a trade-card. The Englishman was absorbed in the sight of so many bottles, and it was quite a while before he spotted Wormold. The long bar that morning was empty except for the elegant stranger at one end and a stout member of the tourist police who was smoking a cigar at the other. Keep reading for an excerpt in which Wormold-anxious about the state of his business and his daughter's excesses-meets the mysterious Hawthorne for the very first time. Hailed as a “comical, satirical, atmospherical” novel and adapted into the 1959 film of the same name, Our Man in Havana is a can't-miss classic of Cold War spy fiction and a portal into a bygone Cuba ( The Daily Telegraph). Can he manage to cover up his scams, prevent more innocent people from getting killed, and live to tell the tale? As Wormold's lies continue to have devastating real-life consequences, he's pushed along a wild journey of danger, deception, and disaster that places him in the path of people who want nothing more than to see him dead. Guided by his best friend, Wormold takes a note out of Garbo's book and begins fabricating information about other spies-which, to his horror, eventually comes true. Needless to say, he isn't cut out for this line of work.

Though reluctant, the threat of bankruptcy looms heavily over Wormold's head, convincing him to accept Hawthorne's offer.

There's just one catch: Wormold must first give himself over to a life of espionage, keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, and report back to the MI6 headquarters in London. Enter Hawthorne, a member of British intelligence, who comes to Wormold with an opportunity that could potentially solve his financial problems.

Between his daughter's outrageous spending habits and the failure of his vacuum cleaner store, 40-something Jim Wormold is having a hard time staying afloat. Voted one of The Telegraph's 20 Best Spy Novels of All Time, Havana follows the madcap adventures of a salesman-turned-spy in pre-revolution Cuba.

Our man in havana book