The Writer and the Traitor

A thrilling history of the 20th century's most intriguing friendship - between novelist Graham Greene and spy Kim Philby
Bestselling historian Robert Verkaik explores the mysterious, decades-long friendship between Graham Greene, the internationally lauded novelist, and Kim Philby, Britain's most hated traitor.

'[An] elegant and forensic double portrait setting Greene, that sociologist of sin, alongside the Kremlin's golden boy Philby, with the lengthening shadow of the cold war falling between them . both his subjects make for terrific copy . Part of the pleasure of Verkaik's book is the vicarious glide through their parallel rake's progresses.' - Pratinav Anil, Guardian

'A wholly fascinating account of an extraordinary friendship. Robert Verkaik's nuanced and insightful portraits of these two highly complicated individuals are brilliantly convincing.' - William Boyd

'A superb spy book. This masterpiece of forensic research asks troubling new questions about two of Britain's most mysterious and famously complex figures.' - Richard J Aldrich, author of GCHQ

'Verkaik's fascinating non-fiction account of these 20th-century icons reads like a thriller.' Daily Mirror
'For those who seek to understand the psychology of the Cambridge spies, Verkaik's portrait of the friendship between Philby and Graham Greene offers a fascinating insight.' Financial Times

In The Writer and the Traitor, bestselling historian Robert Verkaik sheds a completely fresh light on the enigmatic relationship between two giants of the twentieth century: Graham Greene, the internationally lauded novelist, and Kim Philby, the intelligence-officer-turned-traitor.

The two men met as MI6 officers in London, joining forces in a deadly secret war to defeat the Nazis. But Greene unexpectedly resigned just days before British intelligence's greatest triumph - D-Day - and he used his experience in the intelligence services as a backdrop for his novels Our Man in Havana and The Human Factor and the screenplay of The Third Man. Lurking within the pages lay suspicions of his friend and former colleague, with characters and plots echoing Philby's life. Was Philby the real Third Man? Did Greene's work contain coded messages and warnings of betrayal to M16? Where did Greene's ultimate loyalties lie and who was he really working for?

In this highly revealing book, based on astonishing new archive material, Verkaik takes readers on a mesmerising journey from pre-war Vienna to Cold War Moscow, via wartime Sierra Leone and London in the Blitz. This is more than just a riveting tale of espionage; it is the story of a mysterious friendship that survived against the odds. Ultimately The Writer and the Traitor explores the perplexing question that nobody yet has answered: why did one of Britain's most famous writers remain loyal to Britain's most hated traitor?

Contributor: Jonathan Keeble (Read by)

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