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  • Agent Sonya

  • Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy
  • By: Ben Macintyre
  • Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
  • Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,072 ratings)
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Agent Sonya cover art

Agent Sonya

By: Ben Macintyre
Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
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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
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Agent Sonya

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

hmmmm

Have loved all of Ben Macintyre's books and they never fail to entertain and they are never boring. But.....I am obviously the odd one out as I found this listen quite hard going. Just couldn't warm to the main protaganist and couldn't have cared what happened to her. Hey ho I am obviously in the minority.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

TOO TRIUMPHALIST

hardly a master spy..though was elevated to one by the total incompetence of counter intelligence..she left a trail a blind man could follow..she was obviously foreign ..spoke german in cafes with contacts ..openly accepted piles of documents in public..broadcast from a powerful transmitter from home..met her contact who arrived in russian military attaches car..then was allowed to slip off to freedom as with almost all traitors who hid in plain sight ..short of carrying a sign saying 'spy 'she couldnt have flagged🏴‍☠️ herself up more...It again flags ROGER HOLLIS up as a spy as he deflects attention from her..case proved in my mind.
she was a traitor of the highest level who ,as usual damaged the country that saved her life by sheltering her.And loyal to the country that persecuted her people...I hope this is read at highest levels of intelligence as lessons learnt..but I suspect it's still donkeys guarding lions..But Hollis definately a traitor yet to be unmasked..still being sheltered by the old school tie..

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another Great Story

I’ve been waiting on this audiobook to be released and was not disappointed. If you like any of Ben McIntyre’s other books then this is another great story told in the same way as his others. A lot of research has went into it and just like others from Ben it’s takes you back in time and you feel like you’re there watching this unfold. Another 5 star book

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Solid research, fascinating story, well told.

This is a story of a person for whom I have no respect and who I think deserved far worse than she got out of life. However the research was good. The writing was marvellous. The story was engagingly told - and there were many characters, It could have been impossibly complicated. Macintyre is a real artist in the way he relates the events. I am especially impressed with his almost superhuman self-control when outlining Sonya's treachery to the country which gave her sanctuary. I'm sure I would have descended to criticism at that point. Despite how angry it made me, I'm glad I listened to this. Not a minute was wasted.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Ben is so listenable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and especially enjoyed listening to Ben's voice. I'll seek out books in future that have been narrated by him.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An extraordinary story

An extraordinary story. Very well written and read. Completely absorbing, all the more so because it is a story based on facts that sometimes read like fiction.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Superb

Another brilliant book from Ben Macintyre. A fascinating story of a remarkable spy and some incompetent British spy catching! The book is excellently narrated by the author and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in spies and history.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not one one Ben’s best

I’ve loved all of Ben’s books and usually recommend them to anyone who will listen but, like a number of other reviewers, this one was a real let down. The main protagonist is actually……pretty boring. She goes about her job efficiently, doesn’t really come into much danger, hops around as it suits (admittedly whilst sacrificing a lot of normal family life) and then sails off into the sunset. It lacks the normal drama, tension and excitement we’re used to in every other MacIntyre book. It gets a bit more interesting toward the end when you learn about British intelligence’s mistakes, but it’s hardly worth the rest of it just for that. I only stuck it out that long as I eventually used it to send me to sleep at night so caught bits before drifting off.

A disappointment for me - but don’t let this one put you off his others!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Read

This book has been on my TBR list for a while, the wait was definitely worth it
Highly recommend

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A master spy aided by British incompetance

A detailed and entertaining true story of people who held strong views on how the world should be and who were prepared to take action to achieve it. Above all it is also amazing to think that both MI5 and MI6 were riddled with spies and also elitist snobs who helped both knowingly and or inadvertently one of the most significant Soviet spies of all time.

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1 person found this helpful