Spy and the Traitor
Ben Macintyre

Narrated By: Ben MacIntyre

Duration: 14 hours and 33 minutes

What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

*The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller*
*Shortlisted for the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize*
*Bill Gates' Top 5 Books for 2020*

'THE BEST TRUE SPY STORY I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN LE CARRÉ

A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians - now with a new afterword

On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.

The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever...

BEN MACINTYRE'S NEXT BOOK AGENT SONYA IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

© Ben MacIntyre 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Genre

The Cold War, Military history, Espionage & secret services, Biography: historical, political & military

Listen to a sample

Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II

Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly

Thrilling. Ben Macintyre is the ideal narrator

Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving