Agent Sonya

Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

The incredible story of the greatest female spy in history, from one of Britain's most acclaimed historians.

In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1944, a thin and unusually elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted mother of three, attentive wife and friendly neighbour, Sonya Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity.

However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, Sonya was heading for the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific secrets from a nuclear physicist. Secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the atomic bomb.

Far from an obedient homemaker, Sonya Burton was a dedicated communist, a decorated colonel and a veteran spy who risked her life to keep the Soviet Union in the nuclear arms race. Her husband was also a Soviet agent, and her children had three different fathers from lovers she'd encountered throughout her incredible career.

In Agent Sonya, Ben Macintyre reveals the astonishing story behind the most important woman spy in history and the huge emotional cost that came with being a mother, a wife and a secret agent at once.

©2020 Ben MacIntyre (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Excellent

A fascinating story, beautifully read by the author. All the more interesting because it’s all true.

Gripping and thoroughly well researched

Incredible story that has been very well researched by the author. Thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to anyone interested in espionage

Interesting story of a dedicated communist spy

This story is interesting and presents a sympathetic history of Ursula Hamburger (code name Sonya). Sympathetic, because her ideals were sincere, her dedication was sincere, and the ills of society that would inspire someone to become a communist were real and still are. Only we know how it turned out, how it is truly hard to build a just society with freedom but also with a fairer distribution of wealth. Fighting fascism was a big part of her noble effort, and we can’t deny her heroism on that account. The story also touches on how someone copes with betrayal - in Sonya’s case, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, so that her beloved Moscow formed an alliance with the fascists. How could they?! The invasion of Finland by the Soviets was also a big disappointment to Sonya. And, Stalin’s evil. Sonya’s reactions and ways of coping with these betrayals of her values are interesting. People are often faced with such a sense of betrayal of values (clergy who prey on young victims comes to mind). How do we reconcile the ideal with the reality? Sonya made some difficult choices to do so, not necessarily admirable, but they make for a fascinating story. The ineptitude of some of the very important espionage organizations is also interesting (even if we already know about it from other books). The writing was good, overall, though sometimes the jumping around in time for the various characters could be confusing. Also, here and there some facts were repeated, so a better editing would be in order. For example, we learn about Ursula getting a 2nd Red Banner once somewhere in the middle of the book, and then at the very end, when telling some last details. Ben Macintyre is a reasonable narrator for his own work, but a professional narrator might have made it more dramatic.

Excellent

Like all of Ben's books, well written, detailed and compelling from start to finish.

Fascinating story of a successful spy

I have enjoyed every one of Ben Macintyre's books thus far, he excels in taking a fairly obscure character and event in spycraft and turning it into an enjoyable and insightful tale. Ursula Kuczynski led an interesting life as spy for Communist Russia across two continents in a time when she could easily have been killed for her role. Male assumptions of female capabilities in the era certainly helped her, but she was a remarkable person in her own right. The narration was as usual excellent.

What a woman!

A truly gripping story! I could hardly stop listening Ben MacIntyre is an excellent writer.