The Traitors Circle

The Rebels Against the Nazis and the Spy Who Betrayed Them

De: Jonathan Freedland

Narrado por: Jonathan Freedland

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE ESCAPE ARTIST


'Magnificent . . . Important and impressive'
DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Astonishing . . . Freedland is a master'
MICK HERRON

'Remarkable . . . This is how the best history books will be written in the future'
ANDREW ROBERTS

'Excellent . . . Perfect reading for this moment'
ANNE APPLEBAUM

'Utterly gripping, brilliantly researched and written'
ANTHONY HOROWITZ

'Compelling'
MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES

'Thrilling, humane, and deeply moving . . . Not to be missed'
DAVID McCLOSKEY

'Totally gripping and timely'
JONATHAN DIMBLEBY

When the whole world is lying, someone must tell the truth.

Berlin, 1943. A group of high-society anti-Nazi dissenters meet for a tea party one late summer afternoon. They do not know that, sitting around the table, is someone poised to betray them all to the Gestapo - revealing their secret to the Nazis' most ruthless detective.

They form a circle of unlikely rebels, drawn from the German elite: two countesses, a diplomat, an intelligence officer, an ambassador's widow and a pioneering headmistress. Meeting in the shadows, rescuing Jews or plotting for a future Germany freed from the Führer's rule, what unites them is a shared loathing of the Nazis, a refusal to bow to Hitler and the courage to perform perilous acts of resistance. Or so they believe.

How did a group of brave, principled rebels, who had successfully defied Adolf Hitler for more than a decade, come to fall into such a lethal trap? And who betrayed them?

Undone from within and pursued to near-destruction by one of the Reich's cruellest men, they showed a heroism that raises a question with new urgency for our time: what kind of person does it take to risk everything and stand up to tyranny?©2025 Jonathan Freedland

Reseñas de la Crítica

Haunting and heart-poundingly suspenseful - an extraordinary exploration of moral courage in a world overwhelmed by Nazi darkness. Freedland's passionate narrative takes us into secret and sometimes surprising corners of Hitler's Germany. In those shadows of vicious totalitarianism and betrayal - and facing the abyss of the Holocaust - is a circle of friends who embody unwavering human decency and faith and love. Freedland's powerful story-telling has intense resonance in today's darkening world. The moral questions are eternal (Sinclair McKay, bestselling author of DRESDEN)

A story of unlikely rebels who had much to lose from resisting the Nazi regime, which so many of their peers supported. What made them trade personal safety for moral rectitude? Freedland's answer is as tense as a thriller yet perceptive, thoughtful and thoroughly researched. It made me think long after I'd turned the last page (Katja Hoyer, bestselling author of BEYOND THE WALL)

Written like a novel, this tale of heroism, camaraderie, betrayal and tragedy will leave a lasting impression. It is a salutary reminder that history can inspire, even in the darkest of times (JOHN BEW, bestselling author of CITIZEN CLEM)

An astonishing true story of courage, love and betrayal, told with the verve of a thriller. Freedland is a master at weaving spellbinding entertainments drawn from forgotten corners of history (Mick Herron)

The Traitors Circle rivals Freedland's superb The Escape Artist. A revelatory account of heroism and treachery in Nazi Germany, it based on original research and reads like a thriller. Totally gripping and timely (Jonathan Dimbleby)

Though every word is true, this remarkable book reads like a novel. Part thriller, part adventure story, part Holocaust history, it is a searing memorial to the half-million Germans who died opposing Hitler, as well as the six million Jews he killed. The narrative style is gripping; the morality searing. This is how the best history books will be written in the future (Andrew Roberts, author of CHURCHILL: WALKING WITH DESTINY)

The Traitors Circle is not only a thrilling, humane, and deeply moving account of heroism, espionage, and betrayal in the Third Reich - it is the best sort of history, one whose rich characters breathe life and perspective into our present circumstance. Haunting, and not to be missed (David McCloskey, author of DAMASCUS STATION)

Gripping, chilling, inspiring - Jonathan Freedland has a unique gift for exploring history's most profound questions with the urgency of a news reporter and the stylistic flair of a great novelist (Rafael Behr)

A history book written as a thriller that's impossible to stop listening to

Unlike other history books I've read about this period, I devoured The Traitors Circle in two sessions with bated breath.
The author masterfully depicts the lives of people who weren't obligated to resist the Nazi regime but couldn't come to terms with it. He weaves a compelling and important story that bears witness to a group of heroes whose story needed to be heard, and the lessons of their story are highly relevant even today when too many people think democracy is a luxury.