THE NIGHT OF WENCESLAS, Lionel Davidson's first novel, concerns Nicolas Whistler--24 years old, debt-ridden and thwarted in his attempts to rise in what was once the family business. Nicolas is conspired to take a trip from London to Prague, ostensibly to smuggle out some industrial secrets. But the secrets are, in fact, atomic, and Nicolas lets himself in for more than he bargained.

Davidson's award-winning novel is a crisp thriller which offers, as the careful plans unravel, glimpses of the Czech-emigre network in England, and of the inner workings of the British Embassy in Prague.