Stalin’s Apostles: The unputdownable true story of the Cambridge spies and the making of the Soviet Empire
Antonia Senior
Apr 2026 · Hodder & Stoughton · Narrated by Michael Fenner
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14 hr 37 min
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THE REVELATORY TRUE STORY OF BRITAIN'S MOST TREACHEROUS SPY RING.
*Orwell Prize for Political Writing Finalist 2026*
*Radio 4 Book of the Week*
'Shocking. Gripping. Unputdownable. You thought you knew the Cambridge Five? Think again!' - DAMIEN LEWIS
'A definitive work on one of the 20th century's most treacherous conspiracies.' - TIM WEINER
'A spellbinding tale of espionage, friendship, and betrayal. Brilliant.' - PAUL VIDICH
'Beautifully written and utterly compelling.' - SAUL DAVID
'A powerful narrative' - HELEN FRY
Using recently declassified files, Stalin's Apostles explores as never before the treachery of five British men who spied for the Soviet Union: Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Keeper of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt, all radicalised while at Cambridge University in the 1930s. Their supply of British and US intelligence gave Stalin an inside track on US and British strategy at a critical period in history. For more than twenty years there was barely a secret, barely a decision made, that Stalin did not know about, thanks to his Cambridge spies. The Five became tools in Stalin's imperial scheme, responsible directly and indirectly for the death of thousands of people fighting against Soviet domination.
Shielded for so long by the British Establishment, four of the five were never prosecuted for their crimes. And in time another dictator emerged as ruthless as Stalin, but with an even greater desire to establish a Russian Empire that would threaten Western democracy. The legacy of the Cambridge Five is not only in the graveyards of eastern Europe, but at the heart of Putin's Kremlin.
*Orwell Prize for Political Writing Finalist 2026*
*Radio 4 Book of the Week*
'Shocking. Gripping. Unputdownable. You thought you knew the Cambridge Five? Think again!' - DAMIEN LEWIS
'A definitive work on one of the 20th century's most treacherous conspiracies.' - TIM WEINER
'A spellbinding tale of espionage, friendship, and betrayal. Brilliant.' - PAUL VIDICH
'Beautifully written and utterly compelling.' - SAUL DAVID
'A powerful narrative' - HELEN FRY
Using recently declassified files, Stalin's Apostles explores as never before the treachery of five British men who spied for the Soviet Union: Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Keeper of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt, all radicalised while at Cambridge University in the 1930s. Their supply of British and US intelligence gave Stalin an inside track on US and British strategy at a critical period in history. For more than twenty years there was barely a secret, barely a decision made, that Stalin did not know about, thanks to his Cambridge spies. The Five became tools in Stalin's imperial scheme, responsible directly and indirectly for the death of thousands of people fighting against Soviet domination.
Shielded for so long by the British Establishment, four of the five were never prosecuted for their crimes. And in time another dictator emerged as ruthless as Stalin, but with an even greater desire to establish a Russian Empire that would threaten Western democracy. The legacy of the Cambridge Five is not only in the graveyards of eastern Europe, but at the heart of Putin's Kremlin.
THE REVELATORY TRUE STORY OF BRITAIN'S MOST TREACHEROUS SPY RING.
*Orwell Prize for Political Writing Finalist 2026*
*Radio 4 Book of the Week*
'Shocking. Gripping. Unputdownable. You thought you knew the Cambridge Five? Think again!' - DAMIEN LEWIS
'A definitive work on one of the 20th century...
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About the author
Antonia Senior is a journalist, critic and podcaster. She is a book reviewer for The Times, where she has also worked as deputy business editor and leader writer. Antonia currently hosts the Spymasters podcast, and co-hosts the History Book Buffs. She studied the history of intelligence and the Russian Revolution at Cambridge University, which led to a lifelong fascination with the impact of Marxism, the relationship between the West and Russia, the Cold War and espionage, The author of three novels, Stalin's Apostles is her first work of non-fiction.
Antonia Senior is a journalist, critic and podcaster. She is a book reviewer for The Times, where she has also worked as deputy business editor and leader writer. Antonia currently hosts the Spymasters podcast, and co-hosts the History Book Buffs. She studied the history of intelligence and the R...
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