From Russia, with Love is Ian Fleming's fifth book about the British Secret Service agent James Bond. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957. The story centres on a plot by SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency, to assassinate Bond in such a way as to discredit both him and his organisation. As bait, the Russians use a beautiful cipher clerk and the Spektor, a Soviet decoding machine. The action takes mainly place in Istanbul and on the Orient Express. From Russia, with Love deals with the East–West tensions of the Cold War, and the decline of British power and influence in the post-Second World War era. In 1963 it was adapted into the second film in the Bond film series, starring Sean Connery.
