Agent Sonya

Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Best Seller

The “master storyteller” (San Francisco Chronicle) behind the New York Times best seller The Spy and the Traitor uncovers the true story behind one of the Cold War’s most intrepid spies.

“[An] immensely exciting, fast-moving account.” (The Washington Post)

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by Foreign Affairs • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal

In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her.

They didn’t know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn’t know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the façade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated Communist, a Soviet colonel, and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb.

This true-life spy story is a masterpiece about the woman code-named “Sonya”. Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, MI5, MI6, and the FBI - and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the 20th century - between Communism, Fascism, and Western democracy - and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times.

With unparalleled access to Sonya’s diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben Macintyre has conjured a pause-resisting history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers.

©2020 Ben Macintyre (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[Ben] Macintyre at once exalts and subverts the myths of spy craft.” (The New Yorker)

“Macintyre is fastidious about tradecraft details. ... [He] has become the preeminent popular chronicler of British intelligence history because he understands the essence of the business.” (David Ignatius, The Washington Post)

“Macintyre writes with the diligence and insight of a journalist, and the panache of a born storyteller.” (John Banville, The Guardian [UK])

Another masterpiece

Great story, rousing narrative, fascinating tidbits of 1930s-50s history. Macintyre has done it again. Highly recommend this to any and all interested in spies, WWII, and other such things.

educational

First time author for me. When I got this book I thought it was going to be historical fiction, a spy story of a Soviet spy during World war II. But it was more of a documentary of a real life spy. While it didn't have the suspense of a fictional spy novel it was still interesting and educational.

When you think of Soviet spies you might first think that most of them were Russian. But when you think it through, especially in listening to this book, you realize that prior to World War II, the communist movement was worldwide. Therefore, the spies could have, and did, come from everywhere.

In this case, 'Sonya' was a German Jew that came of age in Berlin after World War I and saw the inequities of the Weimar Republic, the poor and disenfranchised, and blamed it on the government and that conceptually communism was the fairest way to go. She became a lifelong die hard communist. Throw Hitler and fascism, Jewish persecution on top of that and you had someone who dedicated their life to right that injustice. This book tells her story and the environment she operated in. It's quite the story really.

Some historical miss steps but good overall.

Plastic bags and transistor radios before their time
and you're not going to make me write more because you want more of a review

Amazing story, Remarkably told

I love this book about an important female spy who greatly touched history. The colorful characters and suspenseful adventures made this a must read. Well researched and professional narration.

I love this book!

Ursula Kuczynski has a fascinating and exciting story. The author is a great narrator.

The best spy you’ve never heard of

I found this after reading about Richard Sorge. Ursula Kuczynski code named Sonya was one of his recruits in China. She went on to spy against the Imperial Japanese, Nazi Germany, and the British and U.S. nuclear program. In the last she acted as the contact for Klaus Fuchs who nearly single handedly gave the USSR its nuclear program. Sonya ended up being one of the USSR’s most successful spies. She worked from a half a dozen countries and recruited entire networks all while raising three children. She survived the Stalin purges, the Gestapo, later the suspicion of MI5 specifically that agencies rare female spy hunter, Milicent Bagot.

This book is well researched and and keeps the listener interested. The pacing is good and easy to follow. It is sometimes hard to believe this is non fiction.

Best ever

Superb writing and storytelling. Best spy story since Stalin's Englishman.Great behind the scene explanation of Russian spying.

Outstanding history

Brilliantly researched, written and narrated history of pre WWII up through the Cold War’s beginning.

Excellent listen

Compared to the 170 books that I have listened to on Audible, Agent Sonia was one of the two best.

Hard to believe

How these protagonists can ignore the destructive nature of socialism is hard to believe. In their own choices they show how nature moves us along regardless of our stupidity.