Search results for ""author roland philipps""

Donald Maclean was a star diplomat, an establishment insider and a keeper of some of the West’s greatest secrets. He was also a Russian spy…Codenamed ‘Orphan’ by his Russian recruiter, Maclean was Britain’s most gifted traitor. But as he leaked huge amounts of top-secret intelligence, an international code-breaking operation was rapidly closing in on him. Moments before he was unmasked, Maclean escaped to Moscow.Drawing on a wealth of previously classified material, A Spy Named Orphan now tells this story for the first time in full, revealing the character and devastating impact of perhaps the most dangerous Soviet agent of the twentieth century.‘Superb’ William Boyd‘Fascinating… An exceptional story of espionage and betrayal, thrillingly told’ Philippe Sands‘A cracking story… Impressively researched’ Sunday Times‘Philipps makes the story and the slow uncovering of [Maclean’s] treachery a gripping narrative’ Alan Bennett

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ROLAND PHILIPPS was a leading publisher for many years. A Spy Named Orphan, his first book, arose from lifelong connections to Donald Maclean and his story. It was shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2018, was a Daily Mail Book of the Year and received widespread critical acclaim. His second book, Victoire, was published by The Bodley Head in 2021.

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'The wartime spy career of Mathilde Carré - aka "the Cat" and "Agent Victoire" - is so extraordinary it almost defies belief' The TimesAn exhilarating true story of espionage, resistance, and one of WW2's most charismatic double-agents.Occupied Paris, 1940. A woman in a red hat and a black fur coat hurries down a side-street. She is Mathilde Carré, codenamed 'the Cat', later known as Agent Victoire - charismatic, daring and a spy.These are the darkest days for France, yet Mathilde is driven by a sense of destiny that she will be her nation's saviour. Soon, she is at the centre of the first great Allied intelligence network of the Second World War.But as Roland Philipps shows in this extraordinary account of her life, when the Germans close in, Mathilde makes a desperate and dangerous compromise. Nobody - not her German handler, nor the Resistance and the British - can be certain where her allegiances now lie...'A truly astonishing story, meticulously and brilliantly told' Philippe Sands, author of The Ratline'Gripping... Enough plot twists and moral ambiguity to satisfy any spy novelist' Spectator

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'The wartime spy career of Mathilde Carre - aka the Cat and Agent Victoire - is so extraordinary it almost defies belief' The Times'A truly astonishing story, meticulously and brilliantly told' Philippe Sands, author of The RatlineRESISTANCE, COLLABORATION AND BETRAYALOccupied Paris, 1940. A woman in a red hat and a black fur coat hurries down a side-street. She is Mathilde Carre, codenamed 'the Cat', later known as Agent Victoire. She is charismatic, daring, and a spy; her story is one of heroism and survival against the odds. These are the darkest days for France, half-occupied by Nazi Germany, half-governed by the collaborationist Vichy regime; and dark days for Britain, isolated and under threat of invasion. Yet Mathilde is driven by a sense of destiny that she will be her nation's saviour. With little training or support, Mathilde and her Polish collaborator, Roman Czerniawski, create a huge web of agents in a matter of weeks to form the first great Allied intelligence network

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