A great biography about a fascinating woman!

I found the blurb and title of this book somewhat limiting as I'm not sure that 'Sonya' (real name Ursula) really was 'Moscow's most daring' and her career which starts in the 1930s extends far beyond 'wartime'. That aside, this is a gripping story of one woman's astonishing life through a large swathe of the twentieth century.Ursula was a German Jew growing up in the Weimar Republic where her early political idealism was nurtured by her abhorrence and life-long hatred for fascism as well as the...

This is the 3rd book by Ben Macintyre that I have read, and I consider all three of those as exceptional works of non-fiction. If you are interested in real-life spies and their spycraft, you can't go wrong with Ben Macintyre.

Ben Macintyre is a badass writer of narrative nonfiction about lesser known historical figures from the World War II era. I read and reviewed his blockbuster, A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, which was published in 2014; when I was invited to do the same for Agent Sonya, I didn’t hesitate. My thanks go to Net Galley and Crown Publishing for the review copy. You can buy this book now. Her real name was Ursula Kuczynski, and she was a German Jew. Hitler came to full power wh...

Ben MacIntyre is one of the most prolific producers of nonfiction books about espionage in the English language. Of the thirteen books he’s written to date, nearly all are about spies, saboteurs, and partisans, and five of those books have been made into documentaries by the BBC. In his latest venture, MacIntyre tells the tale of an extraordinary Soviet spy in World War II, a German-Jewish Communist named Ursula Kuczynski (1907-2000). During her nearly two decades as an officer of Soviet militar...

Ben Macintyre writes the best spy biographies! This particular spy, Ursula Burton (alias Sonya) started out in Germany resisting the fascists and ended up being a spy for the Soviet Union in many parts of the world. She was definitely dedicated to her beliefs, sometimes even giving up her children for lengthy periods of time. While I admire her for her dedication, I don’t think she was all that great of a person.Macintyre follows Sonya’s journeys around the world, the comrades she encountered, a...

I received a free digital advance reviewing copy from the publisher, via Netgalley.Ben Macintyre has done it again; produced a jaw-dropping book about 20th-century espionage. Sonya, born Ursula Kuczynski, lived a long life in service to the causes of anti-fascism and communism, starting 10 years before the Russian Revolution and extending decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Her travels and accomplishments would be unbelievable as fiction. As...

I'm veering between 3 and 4 stars for this. I do love a good spy story, and this is definitely daring and how Ursula got away with her activities for so long is quite amazing to me. She was born in Germany and was a supporter of the communists from a very early age. Thrilled by their ideaology and enamoured by the prospect of change that they offered, it is easy to see how she got caught up in the world they offered. She was the daughter of an academic, had wealth and a loving family. Yet she we...

Ben Macintyre has done it again! I’ll officially follow this author anywhere, this is not just one of my favourite books of the year but potentially one of my favourites of all time. Ursula Kuczynski lived an incredible life, and le Carré’s maxim about spies being the reflection of their country’s soul has never been truer. Highly, highly recommended.

Although 'Sonya' is the main subject of the book her two husbands and Richard Sorge are also significant characters and this adds a new dimension to this wonderful account. I have enjoyed all of Macintyre's books and like his journalism but I think this is his finest achievement to date. He has the gift of a conversational style which manages to convey facts easily but without being trite or facile. A great gift. Sonya spied in China and Switzerland but her big hit was when she operated from a

Another corker by Ben Macintyre. I have to wonder if I'm being unfair by giving this only four stars, but I have to maintain rank around the amazingly five-star The Spy and the Traitor.In this book, an ambiguously cosmopolitan woman spies for the Soviets and secretly rises to a high rank in the Red Army, while appearing to be an expat housewife and mother. We have the usual near misses and amazing escapes here, but a big part of the fun is seeing Ursula alias Sonya run circles around clueless of...

An Entertaining and thrilling story of one woman’s life as a spy for the Soviet Union. A Non fiction story that reads like fiction Born to a German Jewish family, Ursula Kaczynski was a German communist activist who worked for the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria to preventing nuclear war (or so she says) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow. I really e

A really enjoyable book. McIntyre at his best. Non fiction told like a novel.McIntyre brings out very clearly the stressful existence of being a spy. It’s not a glamorous occupation. His subject, Ursula Beurton, is a woman who puts her spying activities for the Soviet Union above the needs of her children and her three husbands. And, like many spies, eventually becomes disillusioned about the perceived “utopia” of Communism.The story moves from Berlin to Shanghai to Poland and Switzerland, to Br...

Always preview a book if possible, especially if you are new to the author. Seems like a lesson I would have taken to heart long ago, but the current lack of library access due to the pandemic and my lazy need for something new, made me vulnerable to good reviews and impulse purchases online. So here is my review to balance out the overall positive glow surrounding this author. This author is not for me. I was struggling to figure out why. This was the sentence that broke me:“Simultaneously glam...

Ben Macintyre can do no wrong. I've loved every single one of his books so far and this one does not disappoint. This is the true female spy tale you've been looking for.A German Jew, Ursula Kuczynski lived in many different countries working as a spy for Moscow. During her 20 year career, she also had a three children which proved to be great cover—no one suspected her even when those around her were caught.Fascinating, extremely well-researched, excellent writing, and often more wild than fict...

4+ starsI can't imagine being Sonya! What a life! "Sonya" is the code name for a woman of German Jewish descent who was enlisted as a Soviet spy in her 20s. She lived in China, the Soviet Union and Switzerland and ended up living in England for several years, seemingly as an English housewife, but meanwhile passing important secrets to the Soviets. Later in life, she lived in East Germany, where she became a children's author. Meanwhile, she had three children, none of them knowing her backgroun...

Agent Sonya....... From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula Kuczynski Burton conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century.Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. A fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, she was dra...

In this age of demagogy and liberal use of truth, it is easy to forget that not very long ago, people actually carried beliefs in various political ideologies, and some politicians made decisions according to ideology rather than according to what's in their best interests. In view of the current political climate, this may seem like a positive thing, but the story of the 20th century proves it wrong. Taken to the extreme, ideologies are no less dangerous than political opportunism. This is the

I have enjoyed all of Ben Macintyre's book so far and, although this was not my favourite, it is certainly a fascinating tale. Agent Sonya was really Ursula Kuczynski, later Mrs Burton. Born Jewish in Germany and an early member of the Communist party in a country which turned to facism, she was nicknamed 'whirl,' and was full of political idealism in an intoxicating time for the young, when political upheaval left millions in her country politcally radicalised on either the left, or the right.T...

Ursula Maria Kuczynski is a German Jew who becomes a communist from a young age. She is from a very privileged background which certainly helps when you want to fight for the ‘cause’. Being born in 1907 her primary reason to be a communist is to oppose fascism that is rearing its ugly head in Germany in the 1920s.Macintyre writes in such a way that you forget this is non-fiction as it reads like a spy thriller novel. Impeccably researched as you come to expect from this author. He brings an atmo...