A HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR'Impressive, often brilliant' THE TIMES'Mesmerising and damning' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Certain to become the definitive work' DOUGLAS SMITH'Elegantly written and magisterially researched' ROBERT SERVICE'Masterful . . . a chilling lesson' VLADISLAV ZUBOKThe definitive story behind the self-destruction of the autocratic Romanov dynasty, by the world's foremost expert.When Tsar Nicholas II fell from power in 1917, Imperial Russia faced a series of overlapping crises, from war to social unrest. Though Nicholas's life is often described as tragic, it was not fate that doomed the Romanovs - it was poor leadership and a blinkered faith in autocracy.Based on a trove of new archival discoveries, The Last Tsar narrates how Nicholas's resistance to reform doomed the monarchy. Encompassing the captivating personalities of the era, it untangles the struggles between the increasingly isolated Nicholas and Alexandra and the factions of scheming nobles, ruthless legislators, and pragmatic generals who sought to stabilize the restive Russian empire either with the Tsar or without him. By rejecting compromise, Nicholas undermined his supporters at crucial moments. His blunders cleared the way for all-out civil war and the eventual rise of the Soviet Union.Definitive and engrossing, The Last Tsar uncovers how Nicholas II stumbled into revolution, taking his family, the Romanov dynasty, and the whole Russian Empire down with him. Read more

Drawing on remarkable and never-before-seen material, the extraordinary story of one of the most horrific and devastating encounters of the Second World War.On June 22nd, 1941 the largest military invasion in human history was launched - an attack on the Soviet Union by almost four million men of Nazi Germany's brutal war machine.Operation Barbarossa led to the bloodiest military campaign mankind has ever known. The statistics of death and destruction are almost impossible to believe. The cruelty, suffering and destitution it wrought are unimaginable . . . over forty million people lost their lives.Yet, the real story of the Eastern Front is still not truly understood outside of Germany and Eastern Europe. Little is known of those who suffered in the horror of Hitler's 'War of Annihilation' - the soldiers and civilians of Eastern Europe who fought and died trying to save their homelands and their loved ones.In Barbarossa, Stewart Binns tells the story of how they lived and survived, and how, once the tide had turned, they exacted an appalling revenge on the Nazi aggressors. This is the story of the bloodiest war in history.Stewart Binns draws on Russian archives to paint a uniquely intimate picture of the war from the Soviet side of this terrible conflict - presenting this dark moment in history in panoramic detail, matching sweeping accounts of tactical manoeuvres with harrowing personal stories of civilian hardship and bravery.'A masterful narrative, deeply enriched by extraordinary research and a profound analysis of the soul of Russia.' - Nick Hewer Read more

'An unburdening, a witness statement and a thriller all at the same time ... electrifying.'The TimesI have to assume that there is a very real chance that Putin or members of his regime will have me killed some day. If I'm killed, you will know who did it. When my enemies read this book, they will know that you know.A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. A true-life thriller by one of Putin's Most Wanted.In November 2009, the young lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death by eight police officers in a freezing cell in a Moscow prison. His crime? Testifying against Russian officials who were involved in a conspiracy to steal $230 million of taxes.Red Notice is a searing exposé of the whitewash of this imprisonment and murder. The killing hasn't been investigated. It hasn't been punished. Bill Browder is still campaigning for justice for his late lawyer and friend. This is his explosive journey from the heady world of finance in New York and London in the 1990s, through battles with ruthless oligarchs in turbulent post-Soviet Union Moscow, to the shadowy heart of the Kremlin.With fraud, bribery, corruption and torture exposed at every turn, Red Notice is a shocking political roller-coaster.__________________Reads like a classic thriller, with an everyman hero alone and in danger in a hostile foreign city ... but it's all true, and it's a story that needs to be told.'Lee Child'A shocking true-life thriller.' Tom Stoppard'A riveting account... it is a powerful story and Browder tells it skilfully.' The Washington Post Read more

Cilka'sJourney is the million copy bestselling sequel to the phenomenon The Tattooist of Auschwitz.Don't miss the conclusion to The Tattooist of Auschwitz Trilogy, Three Sisters. Available now.'She was the bravest person I ever met'Lale Sokolov, The Tattooist of Auschwitz In 1942 Cilka Klein is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, notices her long beautiful hair, and forces her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly given, equals survival.After liberation, Cilka is charged as a collaborator by the Russians and sent to a desolate, brutal prison camp in Siberia known as Vorkuta, inside the Arctic Circle. Innocent, imprisoned once again, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, each day a battle for survival. Cilka befriends a woman doctor, and learns to nurse the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under unimaginable conditions. And when she tends to a man called Alexandr, Cilka finds that despite everything, there is room in her heart for love.Cilka's Journey is a powerful testament to the triumph of the human will. It will move you to tears, but it will also leave you astonished and uplifted by one woman's fierce determination to survive, against all odds.- - - - - - - - 'Her truly incredible story is one to be read by everyone.' Sun'Cilka's extraordinary courage in the face of evil and her determination to survive against the odds will stay with you long after you've finished reading this heartrending book.' Sunday Express'Her courage and determination to survive makes for a heartrending read.' Daily Mirror Read more

*The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller*'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 afterwordOn 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, COLDITZ, IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW Read more

'A brilliant historical investigation that's as gripping as a Le Carré novel' Tom Burgis'Shaun Walker skilfully shows how Russia's modern-day election meddling is rooted in the subterfuge and trickery of the bad old days. This is a fascinating read.' Oliver Bullough'A gripping history critical to understanding many of Russia's influence operations today.' Catherine Belton'Sinister, clandestine and deadly - this is essential history, and it is happening now.' Simon Sebag Montefiore'A riveting spy thriller, which doubles as a secret history of Russia.' Peter PomerantsevIn 2010, two decades after the Cold War had ended, ten Russian spies were arrested in America, having hidden their true identities from their friends, neighbours and even their children. They were part of a spy programme that had begun nearly a century earlier, when the revolutionary Bolshevik government began sending Soviet citizens abroad to pose as foreign aristocrats, merchants and students. These deep-cover missions - some remarkable feats of espionage, others high-profile failures - could last for decades.Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, as well as newly discovered archival material, Shaun Walker brings this history to life in a page-turning tour de force that goes to the heart of what became the most ambitious espionage programme in history. As Moscow continues to infiltrate illegals across the globe, The Illegals shines new light on the long arc of the Soviet experiment and its messy aftermath - and on how that hidden history shaped Russia and the West. Read more

'Chillingly original' Max Hastings'Brilliantly depicts a disastrous failure' Antony Beevor'Witty and elegant . . . Excellent background to today's events' Anne Applebaum'Britain's most forgotten war, brilliantly remembered' Simon Jenkins'Vivid and remarkably timely' Martin SixsmithFrom the bestselling author of Borderland: A Journey Through the History of UkraineThe extraordinary story of the West's intervention into the Russian Civil War In the closing months of the First World War, Britain, America, France and Japan sent 180,000 soldiers to revolutionary Russia, in a doomed attempt to unseat the Bolsheviks. Entangled in what they termed a 'comic opera' conflict, they crisscrossed the shattered empire in sleds, trains and paddlesteamers, bivouacked in log cabins and felt yurts, torpedoed warships from speedboats, improvised the world's first air-dropped chemical weapons, and organised several coups and at least one assassination. Cheered on by Churchill, they also turned a blind eye to their Russian allies' many atrocities.Two years later, as the Red Army swept the board, the West evacuated, leaving Russia more blood-stained and suspicious than ever. A Nasty Little War brings this forgotten misadventure vividly to life. Read more

Love can be a devil and a saint.A scarred vigilante.A titled beauty.Two secrets. One fateful encounter.Two lies. One truth.A happening that left London speechless.A witness—the entire city.On December 19th, 1851, a crime took place in the center of London. One of the few who knows what truly happened is Countess Alina Bronskaya.But she will never speak of it.The crime is her curse and her salvation.Her culprits are the men who gave her their hearts.One is a gentleman-devil.The other is the Duke of Ravenaugh.This is a story of redemption.And in the center of it all—love. Passionate. Overpowering. Changing the course of history.The sort of love that can ruin a man.The one that can save him..."Flowers for the Devil" is a dark Victorian romance with tormented villain/ strong heroine/ forbidden love/ secret identity/ diverse characters tropes. THIS IS NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE. The novel has mature situations and themes which may be considered triggers for some. Readers' discretion is advised. Read more

Moscow, 1936, Stalin’s Great Terror is beginning and, in a deconsecrated church, a young woman is found dead. Captain Alexei Korolev, finally beginning to enjoy the benefits of his success as a detective with the Moscow Militia, is asked to investigate. But when he discovers that the victim is an American citizen, the NKVD - the most feared organization in Russia - becomes involved. Soon, Korolev’s every step is under close scrutiny and one false move will mean exile to the frozen camps of the far north.Committed to uncovering the truth behind the gruesome murder, Korolev enters the realm of the Thieves, rulers of Moscow’s underworld. As more bodies are discovered and pressure from above builds, Korolev begins to question who he can trust and who, in a Russia where fear, uncertainty and hunger prevail, are the real criminals. Soon, Korolev will find not only his moral and political ideals threatened, but also his life.SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2011 THEAKSTONS CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AND THE KERRYGOLD IRISH FICTION AWARDImpressive. Ryan … makes palpable the perpetual state of fear of being reported as disloyal, besides dramatizing the difficulty of being an honest cop in a repressive police state.Publishers Weekly (starred review)Ryan writes with narrative drive and urgency, a good sense of place and a central character who is conflicted, moral and above all likeable: whodunnit heaven.Times Literary SupplementRyan can really write — an elegant, evocative English that savours each scene while propelling the action unerringly onwards.Irish IndependentSuch details make The Holy Thief … one of the year’s most exciting mysteriesSun SentinelAtmospheric, beautifully written and meticulously researched.Irish ExaminerIt is Ryan’s details of life in the bad old USSR that make the story so engrossing.Irish TimesIt’s a tough, suspenseful premise for a debut, contrasting claustrophobic atmosphere with personal optimism.Financial TimesSet in a vividly imagined Stalinist Russia, where the creeping paranoia of a surveillance state blends perfectly with the brutal serial murdersMetro (Crime Book of the Year)Ryan’s novel has an authority that belies his first-novel status… The auguries for a series ... are very promising indeed.Daily ExpressExcellently-observed characters who exist in a nightmarish world of fear, suspicion and danger. Ryan skillfully captures the reality of life in the most spied-upon society in history.Yorkshire Evening PostFans of Phillip Kerr, Tom Rob Smith, and Olen Steinhauer have a treat in store with this strong period thriller from debut author Ryan . . . Book ListA first novel written with all the narrative assurance of someone who’d been perfecting his art for years.Books of the year, Irish IndependentRemarkable thriller . . . In his solitude and resolve, Ryan’s Korolev evokes Martin Cruz Smith’s fierce Arkady Renko.Library JournalRyan’s research, and the genuine feel he has for the unique place and time, made The Holy Thief an especially good read.Ellery Queen MagazineWhile THE HOLY THIEF is a dark book, Ryan peppers the narrative with some grim humor to keep things from becoming too stark. The star of the novel, however, is the plot, which provides a plausible, surefooted explanation for the motive behind the murders..Book ReporterRyan captures the pervasive fear of Stalin’s reign, where even a joke amongst friends can lead to denunciation and exile to the ‘Zone … An impressive debut.Historical Novel Society (Editor’s Choice) Read more

The chilling political thriller dangerously close to becoming reality 'Make no mistake: if Russia marches into the Baltics it means nuclear war.' Damian Whitworth, The Times'The authenticity of the high-level crisis talks within Nato which Shirreff attended in his past life, is so palpable that it lands this book like a 22lb bass. This and the foreword are reasons enough to buy a copy.' The Express'The best piece of super power military fiction since Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Enjoy this riot of a book. And be very afraid - it really could happen like this.' Robert Fox, Evening Standard'This piece of "faction" is billed as an urgent warning - it's also an act of near mutiny.' Michael Burleigh, The Times'A must read...Shirreff's warnings - veiled as fiction - ring with authenticity, rich in technical details and insight.' General Wesley K. Clark, US Army, former Supreme Allied Commander EuropeAccording to General Sir Richard Shirreff, recently retired Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe we are already at war with Russia. Putin is waging war by unconventional means: invasion of Ukraine and terrorist attacks and cyber warfare in the UK. This book shows how war with Russia could erupt into conventional warfare with the bloodiest and most appalling consequences. As Admiral James G Stavridis, US Navy, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, says 'You fail to read this book at your peril.'Putin has already started a lethal dynamic which, unless checked right now, could see him invade the Baltic states. Russia's invasion and seizure of Georgia in 2008 was our 'Rhineland moment'. We ignored the warning signs - as we did back in the 1930s. Crimea in 2014 was the President's 'Sudetenland moment' and again he got away with it. Since 2014 Russia has invaded Ukraine. The Baltics could be next.Our political leaders assume that nuclear deterrence will save us. General Sir Richard Shirreff shows us why this will not wash. Read more

Winner of the Pushkin House Book Prize 2023*A Telegraph Book of the Year* A Times Best Book of Summer 2023*Shortlisted for the Parliamentary Book Awards*An astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol.The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War – and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin apparently lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime – and Russia itself – at risk of destruction. Why?Drawing on over 25 years’ experience as a correspondent in Moscow, as well as his own family ties to Russia and Ukraine, journalist Owen Matthews takes us through the poisoned historical roots of the conflict, into the Covid bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of paranoia about Western threats, and finally into the inner circle around Ukrainian president and unexpected war hero Volodimir Zelensky.Using the accounts of current and former insiders from the Kremlin and its propaganda machine, the testimony of captured Russian soldiers and on-the-ground reporting from Russia and Ukraine, Overreach tells the story not only of the war’s causes but how the first six months unfolded.With its panoramic view, Overreach is an authoritative, unmissable record of a conflict that shocked Europe to its core. Read more

READ FORMER BRITISH ARMY SOLDIER SHAUN PINNER’S EXTRADORDINARY FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE WAR IN UKRAINEFor fans of Bravo Two Zero, Touching the Void, and No Way Out‘A hell of a story’ Sgt Dan Mills, Sniper One‘A remarkable book’ Andrew Marr----‘Live. Fight. Survive,’ she said. So, he did . . .There are just two places Shaun Pinner has felt most at home: first, during his nine years in the British Army and, second, in Ukraine, where he settled after marrying. It was only natural then, that when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he was on the front line leading a section of marines.Outnumbered and outgunned, Pinner's troops staged a fighting retreat to Mariupol for that remarkable, defiant last stand against Putin’s war machine. But this was just the beginning of Shaun’s ordeal. When his troops were ambushed, Shaun was captured – and his war shifted from the battlefield to the interrogation room, when the real fight for survival began . . .---‘A remarkable story from the frontline. Extraordinary descriptions [of] what it's actually like to be in a trench fighting in the winter on the front line against the Russians’ ANDREW MARR‘An extraordinary real-life story’ ENTERTAINMENT FOCUS‘I was mesmerised. Unforgettable’ COLONEL RICHARD KEMP, CO-AUTHOR OF ATTACK STATE RED Read more

BY THE AUTHOR OF CHERNOBYL: HISTORY OF A TRAGEDY, WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2018 WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2015 On Christmas Day 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. By the next day the USSR was officially no more and the USA had emerged as the world’s sole superpower. Award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy presents a page-turning account of the preceding five months of drama, filled with failed coups d’état and political intrigue. Honing in on this previously disregarded but crucial period and using recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, he shatters the established myths of 1991 and presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union’s final months. Plokhy argues that contrary to the triumphalist Western narrative, George H. W. Bush desperately wanted to preserve the Soviet Union and keep Gorbachev in power, and that it was Ukraine and not the US that played the key role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The consequences of those five months and the myth-making that has since surrounded them are still being felt in Crimea, Russia, the US, and Europe today. With its spellbinding narrative and strikingly fresh perspective, The Last Empire is the essential account of one of the most important watershed periods in world history, and is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to make sense of international politics today. Read more

The eye-opening account of the forgotten and tumultuous Eastern Front in World War Two.Perfect for fans of first-person memoirs from the Second World War. By 1944 Byelorussia had been brutally occupied by Nazi Germany for three years, but now the Red Army were coming. The nation was torn apart as violence erupted between the ruthless Communist partisans and the equally menacing Nazi forces.Sixteen year old Sasha Nioman’s brother was carried off and forced to join the local partisans, leaving his family at the mercy of Nazi reprisals. To stop this from occurring Sasha was given little option but to join the German Army with the 34th Battalion Field Police — a force of anti-partisan legionaries of mixed nationalities commanded by Wehrmacht officers.No Place To Lay My Head charts Sasha’s terrifying ordeal through the Second World War as he was forced to fight for an occupying force he hated. This book provides an eyewitness account into the brutal atrocities committed by both Nazi and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front, including the massacre of six hundred defenceless men by the Russian army, of which Sasha was one of only a handful of survivors.This was not the end of Sasha’s war, however. He was sent to the Western Front to stem the Allied advance but his officer’s fled in the face of the American onslaught and he gave himself up. It was only now that he was able to fight against the Nazis, initially joining the Free Polish Army before serving in Italy as a member of the British Forces.Anthony Richardson charts Sasha’s unique journey through the Second World War in exquisite detail. After the war Sasha moved to Britain and through a number of interviews he gave his remarkable story to the author. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in an eyewitness account into a much-overlooked front of this brutal war.‘It has the stamp of authenticity and is a most valuable and timely addition to the literature on guerrilla war.’ Otto Heilbrunn Read more

Ukraine's most famous novelist dramatises the conflict raging in his country through the adventures of a mild-mannered beekeeper. "A warm and surprisingly funny book from Ukraine's greatest living novelist" Charlie Connelly, New European Books of the YearLittle Starhorodivka, a village of three streets, lies in Ukraine's Grey Zone, the no-man's-land between loyalist and separatist forces. Thanks to the war, only two residents remain: retired safety inspector turned beekeeper Sergey Sergeyich and Pashka, his "frenemy" from his schooldays.With little food and no electricity, under ever-present threat of bombardment, Sergeyich's one remaining pleasure is his bees. As spring approaches, he knows he must take them far from the Grey Zone so they can collect their pollen in peace. This simple mission on their behalf introduces him to combatants and civilians on both sides of the battle lines: loyalists, separatists, Russian occupiers and Crimean Tatars. Wherever he goes, Sergeyich's childlike simplicity and strong moral compass disarm everyone he meets.But could these qualities be manipulated to serve an unworthy cause, spelling disaster for him, his bees and his country?Translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk Read more

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal Nonfiction Bestseller that explores the gripping Dyatlov Pass incident that took the lives of nine young Russian hikers in 1959.What happened that night on Dead Mountain?In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the mountain climbing incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over the true stories and what really happened.Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident delves into the untold story through unprecedented access to the hikers' own journals and photographs, rarely seen government records, dozens of interviews, and author Donnie Eichar's retracing of the hikers' fateful journey in the Russian winter.An instant historical nonfiction bestseller upon its release, this is the dramatic real story of what happened on Dead Mountain.GRIPPING AND BIZARRE: This is a fascinating portrait of young adventurers in the Soviet era, and a skillful interweaving of the hikers' narrative, the investigators' efforts, and the author's investigations. Library Journal hailed "the drama and poignancy of Eichar's solid depiction of this truly eerie and enduring mystery."FOR FANS OF UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: Unsolved true crimes and historical mysteries never cease to capture our imaginations. The Dyatlov Pass incident was little known outside of Russia until film producer and director Donnie Eichar brought the decades-old mystery to light in a book that reads like a mystery.FASCINATING VISUALS: This well-researched volume includes black-and-white photographs from the cameras that belonged to the hikers, which were recovered after their deaths, along with explanatory graphics breaking down some of the theories surrounding the mysterious incident.Perfect for:Fans of nonfiction history books and true crimeAnyone who enjoys real-life mountaineering and survival stories such as Into Thin Air, Buried in the Sky, The Moth and the Mountain, and Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the WorldReaders seeking Cold War narratives and true stories from the Soviet era Read more

A startling history of the Chernobyl disaster by Svetlana Alexievich, the winner of the Nobel prize in literature 2015 On 26 April 1986, at 1.23am, a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget. Read more

A DAILY MAIL, FINANCIAL TIMES AND PROSPECT POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE BEST BOOK BY A NON-PARLIAMENTARIAN IN THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS'Quite simply the best and most powerful book I've read this year' David Peace'A magnificent book . . . beautifully written and passionately argued' Dominic Sandbrook'A remarkable eye-witness account of Russia's descent into authoritarianism and war' Catherine BeltonA unique, personal insight into Vladimir Putin's Russia and the devastating impact his rule has had on his own people and those of neighbouring Ukraine. In 2021, BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford set out to write a book about how Russians who dared to think differently to the Putin regime were being labelled as enemies, foreign agents and even traitors. It was to chart Russia's slide from democracy and warn of where the crushing of liberties could lead. She had experienced something of that herself when she was expelled from Moscow as a supposed 'security threat'. Then, in February 2022, Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, moving faster than her worst fears.This is the story of how Vladmir Putin changed Russia so deeply that he was able to launch the biggest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Sarah's focus is on the extraordinary characters she has encountered, from the Russians such as Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny who paid with their lives for challenging Putin, to the Ukrainians she found burying their dead in Bucha. It is also her own personal reckoning with Russia, where she first lived in the 1990s: a country she saw emerge from decades of authoritarian rule to embrace new freedoms, that has now quashed internal dissent and declared a ruinous war on its neighbour.The culmination of many years of on-the-ground reporting, Goodbye to Russia shines a light on the attacks on freedom that she has witnessed and paints an intimate portrait of the individuals who have tried to resist. Read more

Oleg Gordievsky was the highest ranking KGB officer ever to work for Britain. For eleven years, from 1974 to 1985, he acted as a secret agent, reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service while continuing to work as a KGB officer, first in Copenhagen, then in London. He provided Western security organizations with such a clear insight into the mind and methods of the KGB and the larger Soviet government that he has been credited with doing more than any other individual in the West to accelerate the collapse of Communism. In this thrilling memoir, Gordievsky lays out his extraordinary, meticulously planned escape from Russia, a story that has been described as 'one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying.' (Ben Macintyre - The Times) Peopled with bizarre, dangerous and corrupt characters, Gordievsky introduces the reader to the fantastical world of the Soviet Embassy, tells of the British MPs and trade unionists who helped and took money from the KGB, and reveals at last what the author told Margaret Thatcher and other world leaders which made him of such value to the West. Gordievsky’s autobiography gives a fascinating account of life as a secret agent. It also paints the most graphic picture yet of the paranoid incompetence, alongside the ruthless determination, of the all-encompassing and sometimes ridiculous KGB. Praise for Oleg Gordievsky 'Gordievsky's extraordinary courage, mental toughness and self-possession are heroic.' – The Spectator Oleg Gordievsky was born in Moscow in 1938. He attended the Moscow State Institute of International Relations where he specialized in German. He was sent to East Berlin as a diplomatic trainee in August 1961. Two days after his arrival, the Wall went up. In 1962 he joined the KGB and was posted to Copenhagen and London. He worked as a secret agent for eleven years until his dramatic escape to the West in 1985. He is the author of KGB: The Inside Story. Read more

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'This book is his best yet . . . Dimbleby’s work is in a different league, told with such skill and judgment' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday TimesA gripping and authoritative account of the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis, from the bestselling historianJune 1944: In Operation Bagration, more than two million Red Army soldiers, facing 500,000 German soldiers, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy, but, despite the myths that remain, it was the events on the Eastern Front that sealed Hitler's fate and destroyed Nazism.In his new book, bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses this momentous year, covering the military, political and diplomatic story in his evocative style. Drawing on previously untranslated German, Russian and Polish sources, we see how sophisticated new forms of deception and ruthless Partisan warfare shifted the Soviets’ fortunes, how their triumphs effectively gave Stalin authority to occupy Eastern Europe and how it was the events of 1944 that enabled Stalin to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement, laying the foundations for the Cold War . . .'Mr. Dimbleby is a sure-footed guide to the labyrinthine military operations along a front line that extended nearly 2,000 miles, from the Baltic to the Black Sea' Wall Street Journal'Terrific . . . a tour de force' Sir Richard Evans'Military history at its very best' Keith LoweSunday Time Bestseller, June 2024 Read more