The Informer
by Liam O'Flaherty
Literature of Betrayal - Backstabbers, Adulterers, Traitors & Double Crossers
Love and trust are fine but a story becomes gripping when betrayal is introduced. Some of the greatest villains of all time have been traitors, double crossers or simply rascals who betrayed the people who trusted (and sometimes loved) them.
William Shakespeare adored betrayal and Iago’s slow, calculating deceit of Othello is perhaps the greatest illustration of evil ever written. King Lear is a play particularly dominated by savage betrayal. The Bible is full of betrayal from Delilah to Judas Iscariot – the most infamous traitor of them all – who did the awful deed with kiss. In Greek literature, there is a betrayal at every turn - Aeneas betrays Dido, Clytemnestra betrays Agamemnon and Ephialtes betrays the Spartans by helping the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.
Brutus betrays Julius Caesar and stabs him in the back - how many times is that phrase used in everyday conversation? Cold War spy novels would be worthless without the double and triple agents – the reader expects it and attempts to work who is double crossing who as the plot unfolds. The Cato Street Plotters, Guy Fawkes, Benedict Arnold, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, William Joyce, Mata Hari, Vidkun Quisling – the list goes on and on.
25 Books About Treachery
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Sisters Goneril & Regan betray their father. Edmund the Bastard betrays his father & brother. Family ties?
Web of Traitors
Geoffrey Trease
Trease specialized in children’s historical novels and penned more than 100 books.
Samson and Delilah
Felix Salten
Femme fatale Delilah betrays strongman Samson to the Philistines for hard cash. A lesson for musclemen.
The Traitor
Herman Wouk
To prevent atomic war, a scientist wants to provide the Russian communists with a deterrent.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell
Winston and Julia betray each other but then we would all probably do the same under the circumstances.
Dangerous Liaisons
Pierre Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos
Aristocrats Marquise de Merteuil and Valmont seduce and and manipulate for their own amusement.
The Robber Bride
Margaret Atwood
Three friends are betrayed by a university classmate, who steals a beau from each of them.
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis
Tempted by Turkish Delight, Edmund betrays his brother and sisters by joining the White Witch.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John Le Carré
A top class spy novel, George Smiley comes out of retirement to hunt down a mole in the Secret Service.
The Untouchable
John Banville
Based on the life of Anthony Blunt, this novel tells of art historian and double agent Victor Maskell.
The Once and Future King
T.H. White
King Arthur and his knights bring order to England but is betrayed his mightiest warrior and his wife.
Lord Haw-Haw & William Joyce
J.A. Cole
Tasked with demoralizing the British, Joyce was German radio’s most notorious English voice in WWII.
Arundel
Kenneth Roberts
Arnold joined the Brits in the Revolutionary War and became one of America’s most detested traitors.
The Flight of the Feathered Serpent
Amando Cosani
Judas betrayed the son of God and his name became a byword for traitors everywhere.
The Gunpowder Plot
Hugh Ross Williamson
A fine historical account of a murderous plot to kill King James 1 and blow up the Houses of Parliament.
The Eye of the Lion
Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
The most famous female double agent of all time but was this Dutch dancer really a spy for the Germans?
The Life and Loves of a She Devil
Fay Weldon
After being betrayed by her husband, a plain jane takes a long and detailed revenge.
Lucy Crown
Irwin Shaw
A classic but forgotten novel from 1956, a wife and mother begins an affair with a young man.
Natalie Natalia
Nicholas Mosley
A destructive love story from 1971, a British MP has an affair with the wife of a colleague.
300
Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
A small band of warriors defends Greece from the huge Persian army but there is a traitor….
Quisling
Hans Fredrik Dahl
Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian army officer, joined the Germans and became president of occupied Norway.
The Cato Street Conspiracy
John Stanhope
A radical group plotted to murder Britain’s cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820.
Traitor's Purse
Margery Allingham
A classic 1941 crime novel in the Albert Campion series set in World War II.
Agent Zigzag
Ben Macintyre
A true story, double agent Eddie Chapman worked for the German and the British during World War II.
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