 In this video, I will be sharing the top reviews of the book called, Agent Sonia, authored by Ben McIntyre, who is a writer at large for the times in the UK and the best-selling author of The Spy and the Trader, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. McIntyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work. But before we get to the reviews let's see a little bit of what this book is about. In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her. They didn't know that she was a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer. They didn't know that her husband was also a spy, or that she was running powerful agents across Europe. Behind the facade of her picturesque life, Burton was a dedicated communist, a Soviet colonel, and a veteran agent, gathering the scientific secrets that would enable the Soviet Union to build the bomb. This true-life spy story is about the woman code named, Sonya. Over the course of her career, she was hunted by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Nazis, Michigan Five, Michigan Six, and the FBI, and she evaded them all. Her story reflects the great ideological clash of the 20th century, between communism, fascism, and Western democracy, and casts new light on the spy battles and shifting allegiances of our own times. With unparalleled access to Sonya's diaries and correspondence and never-before-seen information on her clandestine activities, Ben McIntyre has written a history of a legendary secret agent, a woman who influenced the course of the Cold War and helped plunge the world into a decades-long standoff between nuclear superpowers. Now let's get to the reviews. Dem from Ireland says 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 enjoyed this book and couldn't stop listening. It's impeccably researched and extremely well-written. Reading this you just can't help getting caught up in Sonya's life as a spy. The lengths she went to for a cause she believed in, I found myself conflicted as to why she would risk her children for her beliefs. This is my first Ben McIntyre book and I just wished I had purchased a hard copy of this book for my real life bookshelf. I listened on Audible and the narrator was excellent but I can't help wonder if the hard copy had photos and maps to go with the story. This is always a concern I have with listening to non-fiction on Audible. Occasionally the Audible has a file attached with photos but nothing came with this book which was disappointing but perhaps the hard copy didn't have photos. I wish the book had more information on Agent Sonya's life in Berlin in her latter years and not sure why the author choose to gloss over this period of her life. Having said that, a terrific book for readers who enjoy spy stories, history or non-fiction reads. Davis from the United States says Ben McIntyre is a badass writer of narrative non-fiction 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 NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the review copy. You can buy this book now. Her real name was Ursula Kaczynski, and she was a German Jew. Hitler came to full power when she was visiting China, and her entire family fled. Born before the Russian Revolution, she lived until after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so her lifespan encompassed the entire duration of the Soviet Union. An unusually intelligent woman, she was drawn to communism by the horror of fascism, and by the misery created by the disparate wealth that was right in front of her. The Chinese peasantry was so wretchedly poor that she found dead babies in the street. Starving mothers sometimes concluded that they might be able to save one child, but they surely couldn't save more than that, and they were forced to make a tragic choice. This, in spite of the vast and opulent wealth of the most privileged classes, was obviously wrong, and there appeared to be only one way around it. She signed on to be a spy for Moscow. Maine from the United States says Ben McIntyre has done it again, produced a jaw-dropping book about 20th century espionage. Sonya, born Ursula Kaczynski, 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 history, they are flat-out amazing in themselves and even more so because she did it all while being a loving wife and mother. Born into an intellectual German-Jewish family, she was keenly aware of the growing power of the Nazis. Much of it she viewed from afar, though, because she and her architect husband were living in Shanghai, where he was working. Appalled by the state of the Chinese working class and the growth of fascism, Ursula was soon recruited to spy for Soviet military intelligence, working with famed agent Richard Sorge. Always willing to obey the orders of Moscow Center, Ursula moved from Shanghai to Poland to Switzerland to England, shedding husbands, partners along the way, but accruing children. Her hair-raising escapes from danger are mostly attributable to her wailiness, but as McIntyre makes clear, there's a little secret sauce in there, too. And that's sexism. Ursula was so outgoing, so charming, so at ease with all kinds of people, even Nazis, and so housewife-ly, that nobody ever seemed to think she could possibly be a Soviet spy, no matter what the evidence, and it reached the point where there was plenty. Essel from Canada says I can't imagine being Sonya. What a life. Sonya is the codename 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 background until later in life. Ben McIntyre does a great job of depicting Sonya's life and personality and what motivated her. It's a sympathetic portrait of an unconventional, fearless and adventurous woman. I listen to the audio, which McIntyre narrates in his beautiful British accent. I would have liked to know more about the perspective of Sonya's children on their mother but, otherwise, his was great. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in 20th century cold war history. Bridget from the United Kingdom says 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 McIntyre's books and like his journalism, but I think this is his finest achievement to date. He has the gift of a conversational style that 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 sweet English village. Bicycling along country lanes she could have been a vicar's wife out for some innocent brambling rather than checking out a dead drop with instructions from her Soviet handler. The bravery of the men who parachuted into Germany just before the collapse of the Reich to assess bomb damage took my breath away. They used cutting-edge technology to communicate with high-altitude Allied planes, and Sonya made sure Stalin's subordinates got a peek at the kit. Just one highlight of this excellent book. I have provided the sources of this video in the description, please feel free to check them out. Thank you for watching this video, if you like this video then please subscribe to the channel and share this video.