Agent Sonya

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin

A TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'His best book yet' The Times

'Macintyre's page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause' Sunday Times

DISCOVER THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE SPY WHO ALMOST KILLED HITLER - FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR

Ursula Kuczynski Burton was a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent. Codenamed 'Agent Sonya', her story has never been told - until now.

Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. As a fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, Ursula was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society.

From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century.

In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian Ben Macintyre delivers an exhilarating tale that's as fast-paced as any fiction. It is the incredible story of one spy's life, a life that would alter the course of history . . .

'Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else' John Preston

'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times

'This book is classic Ben Macintyre . . . quirky human details enliven every page' Spectator

© Ben MacIntyre 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Critics Review

  • Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else

    Evening Standard

  • Think John le Carré at his early best – but fact not fiction

    Daily Express

  • This impeccably researched account of her double life spans continents and is brilliantly compelling

    Sunday Mirror

  • Macintyre’s page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause

    Sunday Times

  • The best true spy story I have ever read

    John le Carré on 'The Spy and the Traitor'

  • Thrilling…Macintyre will have you hooked to her life’s every twist and turn

    Times/Sunday Times Books of the Year

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