Robert Verkaik

'[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 MirrorIn 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 fo? n 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?

NOW WITH NEW MATERIAL - the first book to analyse government documents released in January 2025.''Sensational'' Daily Express''A bombshell book'' Daily Mail''A breath-taking review of WWII''s greatest betrayal and the moment that changed history forever'' Sunday Post''Mr. Verkaik relates the complex stories of Lindemans and Blunt with the economy and verve of a spy novelist'' The Wall Street Journal''Original, thought-provoking and exceedingly well written.''Robert Kershaw, author of It Never Snows in September''Each chapter of Verkaik''s book leaves you yearning to learn more'' New York Journal of BooksThe end of the Second World War is in sight. Following D-Day, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin all seek to shape the global future to their own ends and win the race to Berlin.The British launch Operation Market Garden, the greatest airborne operation the world has ever seen. It is a bold roll of the dice, which, if successful, will end the war in weeks. But behind the scenes, spies are working, and plans are betrayed, the operation fails and thousands of Allied soldiers die.The Traitor of Arnhem tells a never-before-told story of this iconic operation, and of the very different figures working in secret to cause the catastrophic defeat: one Dutch resistance fighter, one English gentleman, both working for the Russians. Drawn from unseen records and shedding fresh light on the operation and the spies responsible for its failure, this is an incredible account of the battle that would go on to shape the twentieth century.''Amazing ... a remarkable answer to the vexed question: why were the Nazis unexpectedly lying in wait?''Jewish Chronicle''A powerful and timely reminder of how the failure to tackle Stalin''s threat to the West at the end of World War 2 has forced the world to face up to the aggression of Vladimir Putin today.''Bill Browder, author of Red Notice