Stalin's Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If Andrew Lownie, wearing his agent's hat, had tried to flog this as a work of fiction I suspect some publishers would have rejected it as being too far-fetched; the reader would be unable to suspend disbelief. But it's fact, and likely to be as near the truth as is possible in the murky world of espionage. The research that has gone into this immensely readable book is prodigious and there are extensive quotes from a wide variety of sources. Burgess was a basically dreadful man with some attractive traits: an openly promiscuous homosexual when that was illegal; an immensely cultured man yet a slob; very bright, academically and emotionally, with a mind that continued to function while pickled with alcohol; excellent, witty company yet capable of gross rudeness; a committed communist, supportive of the Soviet Union, with a hedonistic, unashamedly upper-class lifestyle that was unalterably English; shambolic yet well enough organised to send suitcases full of classified material to his Soviet handlers. In exile in Russia he continued to sport his Old Etonian tie and looked forward to receiving Fortnum and Mason hampers from his mum. How could all that have happened? You should read a book I found amazing in more ways than one.



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