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George asked this question about Slow Horses (Slough House, #1):
What's the word play that gets the place called "Slough House", when we're told explicitly that's not its real name? We're also told that it isn't in Slough.
James I think the thing to understand is that Slough, the real town, has a reputation as being a miserable place to go - drab, dreary, boring. Within the no…moreI think the thing to understand is that Slough, the real town, has a reputation as being a miserable place to go - drab, dreary, boring. Within the novel you get a report of a very brief conversation between two unknown characters in the past, discussing a spy who has been disgraced. I don't have the book to hand, but it's something along the lines of "Where's he been sent? Slough?" "As good as."
So someone suggests that Slough would be a place someone might be sent as punishment... it turns out they haven't been sent to literal Slough, but to a posting just as bad. We're told that, based on this conversation, the nickname 'Slough House', for this particular posting, takes off.(less)
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Slow Horses
by Mick Herron
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