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The Impossible Virgin

by Peter O'Donnell

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Modesty Blaise (5)

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2514106,873 (4.18)1
Accompanied as always, by her ever-faithful henchman Willie Garvin, Modesty's skills and resilience are tested to the full against Brunel. Having been outwitted and brought the most shattering reverse she has ever suffered, it takes all her expertise in combat to overcome and outwit the enemy. How she fights back and learns the secret of The Impossible Virgin brings this classic saga of Modesty Blaise to an astonishing climax.… (more)
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» See also 1 mention

English (3)  Danish (1)  All languages (4)
Showing 3 of 3
Great
  Dermot_Butler | Nov 8, 2023 |
Another one of my old favorites that's a good and comforting read. Modesty is ace, better than Bond.

25 February 2012
O'Donnell has all the prejudices you'd expect of an old white guy. Africa is a mysterious and unchanging continent, except for the bit where politics are all smushed together and full of the imperial commie threat. Good people are often a little bit British and bad people are often a little bit swarthy, although this is not without exceptions.

But what I will always love about his greatest character, Modesty Blaise, is her independence, the sex positivity, her combination of goodness and ruthless practicality, her splendid intelligence and competence, and her warmth. She is a great hero, an engaging adventurer and funny. ( )
  veracite | Apr 7, 2013 |
One of the better Modesty Blaise adventures, which introduces the inimitable Giles Pennyfeather, and places Modesty and Willie in the thick of a "grievous and vexatious" caper which sees Willie pitched out of a plane at 3,000 feet to his certain death, and the fascinating examination of Modesty's reaction to the knowledge of his death. One of the best adventures in all ways, action, storyline and character exploration. ( )
  burnit99 | Feb 15, 2007 |
Showing 3 of 3
10 of the Greatest Cold War Spy Novels
“In 1953, O’Donnell created his comic-strip character Modesty Blaise as a female version of Bond; the strip was sexy and violent in a way unknown to stateside comics pages. A street urchin who grew into a powerful organized-crime leader, Modesty (and her platonic tough-guy sidekick Willy Garvin) is now reformed, sort of, and working for the British Secret Service. The novel Modesty Blaise (1965) was O’Donnell’s novelization of his (mostly ignored) screenplay for Joseph Losey’s 1966 film of the same name. The warm critical and popular response to Modesty in novel form led to a long-running series. Alone among such fun Bond-era spies as The Avengers and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Modesty enjoys an enviable body of quality prose fiction. Modesty rarely engaged in Cold War themes, but in The Impossible Virgin she does.”
 

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Peter O'Donnellprimary authorall editionscalculated
Hermstein, RudolfTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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rororo (1805)
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Temptation came to Novikov as suddenly, as unexpectedly, as an assassin's bullet.
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Accompanied as always, by her ever-faithful henchman Willie Garvin, Modesty's skills and resilience are tested to the full against Brunel. Having been outwitted and brought the most shattering reverse she has ever suffered, it takes all her expertise in combat to overcome and outwit the enemy. How she fights back and learns the secret of The Impossible Virgin brings this classic saga of Modesty Blaise to an astonishing climax.

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Modesty Blaise's friend Novak died trying to preserve his discovery of the Impossible Virgin, a secret that meant enormous wealth. But right at the last moment, he babbled. When Modesty makes a forced landing in Central Africa, she meets the man who possesses Novikov's secret without knowing it—Giles Pennyfeather, the guileless and blundering young doctor with a gift for healing. In saving Giles from Brunel, a dangerous killer, she buys yet another ticket to danger, for Brunel is determined to have the secret. Modesty and her lieutenant, Willie Garvin, take on Brunel and his partners in a fierce and devious battle, where Modesty is brought to the most shattering reverse she has ever suffered. How she fights back, and at last learns the truth of the Impossible Virgin and her ferocious guardians, brings this fifth tale in the saga of Modesty Blaise to an astonishing climax.
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