The Madness of July

A sophisticated spy thriller, set in the endgame of the Cold War, from top Radio 4 presenter James Naughtie.

‘Secrets and regrets, ambition and venality. I have seldom come across a novel so redolent of le Carré.’ Charles Cumming

London, mid-1970s. A sweltering July in Whitehall, and for Will Flemyng, foreign office minister, the temperature rises with each passing hour. A mysterious death exposes secret passions in government, and a political crisis draws him into a familiar world of danger and deceit.

Flemyng has a past. Trained as a spy to live with secrets, he is alone again. In the course of one long weekend, friendships face destruction and all his loyalties are put to the test.

His hazardous journey takes him to old battlefields and the dark places where London and Washington do their most secret business, in an era brought brilliantly to life by a writer steeped in the story of Flemyng’s world.

From one of our best-known BBC broadcasters comes a sophisticated thriller about loyalty, survival and family rivalry deep in the Cold War, drawing on decades of experience as a political insider in Westminster and Washington.

'Hugely satisfying. Grips from the first page to the last.' Kate Mosse
‘Addictive. The reader has to piece together a drip-feed of clues.’ Independent
‘A slow-burning, cerebral and gripping thriller which fuses the entwined professions of politics and espionage.’ Herald

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