The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me

First edition cover - published by Jonathan Cape.
Author	Ian Fleming
Cover artist	Richard Chopping (Jonathan Cape ed.)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	James Bond
Genre(s)	Spy novel
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	16 April 1962
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	Thunderball
Followed by	On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Spy Who Loved Me is the ninth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. It was first published by Jonathan Cape on April 16, 1962. It is the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as a clear departure from previous Bond novels, in that the story is told in the first-person by a young woman named Vivienne Michel. James Bond actually does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book (chapter 10) and has left at the start of the final chapter (chapter 15). In order to maintain the fiction of the book's central character, Vivienne Michel (and, some critics suggest, distance himself from a book with which he was unsatisfied), Fleming gave "Michel" co-author credit. In his foreword to the novel, Fleming establishes a tongue-in-cheek fiction regarding the origin of the manuscript:

Due to the reactions by critics and fans, Fleming was not happy with the book and consequently only gave permission for the title to be used when he sold the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. In 1977 the title was used for the tenth film in the EON Productions series. It was the third to star Roger Moore as British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond. Per Fleming's wish the film only uses the title and is therefore considered the first wholly original Bond film. The film was novelised the same year by screenwriter Christopher Wood and the resulting book was the first novelisation of a Bond film. To avoid confusion with Fleming's novel, the book was named James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. Even though the movie had no references to the book, some elements from the book were used in other films. For example, in Dr. No, Bond uses a pillow trick to make it appear he is asleep. Fleming's novel is considered an interlude novel in what is known as the "Blofeld Trilogy." This novel is generally not considered part of the story arc that includes the previous novel, Thunderball and succeeding books On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, although it clearly takes place after Thunderball and does make references to its adventure.

Plot summary

1967 Pan Books paperback edition.

The central character and narrator of The Spy Who Loved Me is "Vivienne Michel," a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. The novel is broken up into three parts -- "Me", "Them", and "Him". The first section of the book deals with Michel's past love affairs, the first being Derek Mallaby who took her virginity in a field after being kicked out of a cinema for indecent exposure. The physical relationship ended that night and Michel was subsequently dumped later when Mallaby sent her a letter from the University of Oxford saying he was forcefully engaged to someone else by his parents. Michel details her second love affair to her German boss, Kurt Rainer, whom would eventually get Michel pregnant. After she learned of her pregnancy and informed Rainer, he dumps her and pays for her to go to Switzerland to have an abortion. The second section of the book details Michel's return to her native Canada, her plans to journey through America, and how she came to work at "The Dreamy Pines Motor Court" in the Adirondack Mountains for managers Jed and Mildred Phancey. At the end of the vacation season, the Phanceys entrust Michel to look after the motel for the night before the owner, Mr. Sanguinetti, can arrive to take inventory and shutter it up for the winter. However, two mobsters, "Sluggsy" Morant and Sol "Horror" Horowitz, show up under the guise of working for Mr. Sanguinetti and say they are there to look over the motel for insurance purposes. In truth, the two were hired by Mr. Sanguinetti to burn down The Dreamy Pines Motor Court so that Mr. Sanguinetti can make a profit on the insurance. The blame for the fire would fall on Michel, who was to perish in the fire. The mobsters, specifically "Sluggsy", are very cruel to Michel, beating her when she attempts to escape and threatening to rape her if she doesn't cooperate. The two mobsters are stopped from raping Michel at the very end of the second section of the book when the door buzzer sounds. The third section of the book opens with British secret service agent James Bond appearing at the door asking for a room, having had a flat tire while passing by. He is eventually allowed by the gangsters to stay and he later details to Michel why he's in America, saying that after Operation Thunderball was completed, SPECTRE was pretty much finished except that the allied nations were still searching for members of the organization, including the as-yet-unknown (to Bond at least) Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Through a series of Bondian events, he protects Michel through the night and later kills Sluggsy and Horror in two separate gun battles. Bond later gives Vivienne a gun for protection, saying that there are all sorts of maniacs in the world.

Characters in The Spy Who Loved Me

2003 Penguin Books paperback edition

• Vivienne Michel
• James Bond
• Sol "Horror" Horowitz
• "Sluggsy" Morant
• Derek Mallaby
• Kurt Rainer
• Jed and Mildred Phancey
• Mr. Sanguinetti

Publication history

In the United States, a condensed version of the novel was published in the men's magazine, Stag, under the title, "Motel Nymph".

Comic strip adaptation

Main article: James Bond (comic strip)

Fleming's original novel was adapted as a daily comic strip which was published in the British Daily Express newspaper and syndicated around the world. The adaptation ran from December 18, 1967 to October 3, 1968. The adaptation was written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak. It was the last Ian Fleming work to be adapted as a comic strip, although the comic strip took great liberties with Fleming's novel, substituting a SPECTRE-related storyline involving Bond for the novel's autobiographical chapters involving Vivienne; the actual adaptation of the novel doesn't begin until the 2/3 point of the strip. The strip was reprinted by Titan Books in the early 1990s and again in 2004.