Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre — a story that might be unrealistic were it not completely true

When my brother asked me if there was a book I wanted for Christmas, I asked him to get me something different and outside my comfort zone. As neither a regular non-fiction reader nor a history buff, ‘Agent Sonya: The True Story of WW2’s Most Extraordinary Spy’ by Ben Macintyre was certainly that for me. The long, relaxed days between Christmas and the New Year are often a good time for more challenging reads. However, it transpired that this book and the story of Agent Sonya, a narrative that would be liable to being described as unrealistic were it not true, were no less absorbing than any work of fiction.

The book begins with a snapshot of the Soviet spy known as Agent Sonya settled in Britain with her husband and three children, and then travels back in time to plot her journey from Berlin to Oxfordshire, via Shanghai, Moscow, and Geneva, amongst others. We see Ursula Kuczynski evolve from a young, passionate communist to a self-assured Soviet spy to a disillusioned elderly woman. Ursula’s life is one of precarious balance both personally and professionally; as the reader, I always felt that she was one page away from this balance being tipped and her world, personal, professional or both, falling apart. Her ability to dodge disaster was partly due to Ursula’s capacity to foster strong relationships, romantic and platonic.

While not an avowed feminist, Ursula did leverage the relative benefits of being a female working in espionage. As a committed spy and a loving mother, her gender necessarily became part of her disguise. On many occasions, security services idenitified Ursula’s male partners as the greater threat, dismissing and underestimating the capacity of a mother and housewife to pose a real security risk.

“Men simply did not believe a housewife making breakfast from powdered egg, packing her children off to school and then cycling into the countryside could possibly be capable of important espionage”

‘Agent Sonya’ is a love story, a story of war and a history lesson all in one. My experience of reading this book has served as a lesson to keep an open mind and to try to venture further afield than the books filling up my Instagram feed or the bestseller shelves.