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Edith and Kim
The new, literary novel from Charlotte Philby
To betray, you must first belong…
In June 1934, Kim Philby met his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch.
The woman who introduced them changed the course of history.
Her name was Edith Tudor-Hart.
She changed the course of 20th century history. Then she was written out of it.
Drawing on the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor Hart, along with the private archive letters of Kim Philby, this finely worked, evocative and tense novel tells the story of the woman behind the Third Man.
Praise for Charlotte Philby
‘Superbly crafted with heart-stopping twists and chills galore. A new star has arrived in the thriller firmament’ THE TIMES
‘Her thrillers have been a game-changer for the spy genre’ DAILY EXPRESS
‘Seriously stylish, hugely compelling… Charlotte Philby redefines a male-dominated genre with her brilliantly complex female characters’ LUCY FOLEY
‘A hugely original and talented writer’ JANE CASEY
‘Heart-breaking, gripping and always beautifully written’ ERIN KELLY
‘Brilliantly executed and tense’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Terribly compelling… persuasive and absorbing’ OBSERVER
‘Compelling and emotionally resonant’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
‘Dark and addictive and magnificent’ JOANNA CANNON
‘Patricia Highsmith territory… Subterfuge, paranoia and chills galore’ THE TIMES
‘Timely, gripping and morally complex’ MAIL ON SUNDAY
‘Philby is a skilled and evocative writer’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Clever, gripping, unsettling and thoroughly entertaining’ HOLLY WATT
‘Compelling and complex’ HARRIET TYCE
To betray, you must first belong…
In June 1934, Kim Philby met his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch.
The woman who introduced them changed the course of history.
Her name was Edith Tudor-Hart.
She changed the course of 20th century history. Then she was written out of it.
Drawing on the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor Hart, along with the private archive letters of Kim Philby, this finely worked, evocative and tense novel tells the story of the woman behind the Third Man.
Praise for Charlotte Philby
‘Superbly crafted with heart-stopping twists and chills galore. A new star has arrived in the thriller firmament’ THE TIMES
‘Her thrillers have been a game-changer for the spy genre’ DAILY EXPRESS
‘Seriously stylish, hugely compelling… Charlotte Philby redefines a male-dominated genre with her brilliantly complex female characters’ LUCY FOLEY
‘A hugely original and talented writer’ JANE CASEY
‘Heart-breaking, gripping and always beautifully written’ ERIN KELLY
‘Brilliantly executed and tense’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Terribly compelling… persuasive and absorbing’ OBSERVER
‘Compelling and emotionally resonant’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
‘Dark and addictive and magnificent’ JOANNA CANNON
‘Patricia Highsmith territory… Subterfuge, paranoia and chills galore’ THE TIMES
‘Timely, gripping and morally complex’ MAIL ON SUNDAY
‘Philby is a skilled and evocative writer’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Clever, gripping, unsettling and thoroughly entertaining’ HOLLY WATT
‘Compelling and complex’ HARRIET TYCE
384 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2022
34 people are currently reading
420 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
June 5, 2022
An interesting insight into the lives of Edith Tudor-Hart and Kim Philby, two people who were members of the infamous spy network created by the Soviets. The book, being a novel, leaves little to fiction as the author, personally connected to Kim Philby draws on a wide range of currently available information and deserves a praise for presenting it skillfully.
A book that will interest anyone who is into spy fiction and in spy reality ...
*Many thanks to Charlotte Philby, HarperCollins UK Audio, and NetGalley for the advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
A book that will interest anyone who is into spy fiction and in spy reality ...
*Many thanks to Charlotte Philby, HarperCollins UK Audio, and NetGalley for the advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
January 28, 2023
A constant stream of names and places with zero characterisation or insight into thought processes or reasons for why people were attracted to the communist ideology. Facts are not fiction. Does that really need to be said? Although even factual books are generally more interestingly written than this. And they're not usually written in the pointless and annoying present tense. Abandoned at page 55. I can see this is going to be another stellar year for abandoning new releases. Have authors forgotten how to write interesting fiction?
March 13, 2022
A fascinating mix of fact and fiction in Edith and Kim, giving an entirely new perspective on a real life historical spy drama that unfolded long ago.
This focuses on Edith, a forgotten historical figure who none the less played a huge role in proceedings and lived a strange, underground life thar comes to vivid reality at the hands of Charlotte Philby.
Beautifully written throughout giving a haunting sense of time and place, this is literary historical drama at its best.
This focuses on Edith, a forgotten historical figure who none the less played a huge role in proceedings and lived a strange, underground life thar comes to vivid reality at the hands of Charlotte Philby.
Beautifully written throughout giving a haunting sense of time and place, this is literary historical drama at its best.
May 17, 2022
Follows the life of Edith Tudor Hart, the Austrian born woman who recruited Kym Philby to the cause of communism. The author is Philby’s granddaughter. There’s a lot of passionate belief in the cause, affected for many by events showing faults, but not these two. It was an intriguing read.
April 7, 2022
Edith and Kim by Charlotte Philby was just published March 31st with The Borough Press and has been described by The Times as ‘a fine achievement’. As granddaughter of the renowned double agent Kim Philby, Charlotte Philby has a personal history that reads like a John Le Carré novel. Kim Philby was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a high ranking member of the British Intelligence until his final defection to the Soviet Union in 1963.
‘Philby was also a journalist but joined SIS (also known as MI6) in 1940. Just before the war ended, he was appointed head of SIS’s anti-Soviet section. Thus the man charged with running operations against the Soviets was a KGB agent. He later became chief British intelligence officer in the United States. In 1963, he defected to the Soviet Union, and died there.'– Source: BBC
Known as The Third Man in the Cambridge Five spy ring, Kim Philby was recommended as a possible Soviet spy by Edith Tudor-Hart. Born in Vienna and from a working class background, Edith Tudor-Hart (née Suschitzky) studied in the UK under Maria Montessori and later went to the Bauhaus where she studied photography. Edith always had a strong commitment to the communist cause and it was at the Bauhaus that she met like-minded individuals which further encouraged and nurtured her beliefs in the Soviet system.
Edith was an activist and a very strong believer in the communist cause, working for the NKVD (which later became known as the KGB) but never receiving any formal recognition or recompense for her services. Through marriage she came to London and with her photography she documented anything of note, passing and receiving relevant information via established routes. Kim Philby crossed paths with Edith in the early 1930s in Austria and, from the beginning, Edith recognised a like-minded soul. Kim Philby had a very unorthodox upbringing, describing his father as ‘a free man’. He followed the educational path of someone of his position but he was never committed to the life society expected of him.
“Which leads me to answer your real question: how such an apparently upper-class creature such as myself might betray his roots by coming here to slum it in the process of helping others? In order to understand that, you must understand one thing. To betray you must first belong. And believe me, Alexander, I never belonged” – Kim Philby
Over the years Edith’s activities in London did not go unnoticed and, throughout the book, Charlotte Philby has included snippets from original Secret Intelligence Files which demonstrate the covert observations that were taking place at the time. Edith Tudor-Hart was under surveillance for many years. Her husband was a doctor also with communist sympathies. He supported the International Brigade in Spain during the Civil War and offered his medical services, leaving Edith alone, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her young son, Tommy. She had always known Tommy was different from other boys but she was adamant that he had been emotionally damaged by the war and from being in the midst of the fractious relationship between his parents. Edith harboured a permanent guilt that his mental state was her fault. Tommy was eventually moved to a sanatorium for his own personal safety and the safety of others, including Edith.
The surveillance on Edith was obvious to her. She did her best to continue with her day job as a photographer and her furtive assignments but it all was taking its toll on her. She eventually was left with no choice but to leave London and go to Brighton where one can only assume her life was difficult.
“Though no link was ever proven, Edith was prevented from working as a photographer and, at the age of 44, she fled to Brighton where she opened an antique shop in the North Laine. She died 20 years later in a pauper’s hospice, her only child incarcerated in an asylum, her ashes scattered by an employee of the home, in the absence of family or friends. Meanwhile she was effectively shunned by the Soviet regime to which she gave her life, without ever accepting a penny for her work.” – Charlotte Philby
Edith and Kim provides a fascinating insight into Edith Tudor-Hart, highlighting her early years in Vienna and the high price she paid for an ideology that she truly believed in. Charlotte Philby came upon her purely by accident during research and was immediately intrigued by this woman, this unknown individual who was very strongly connected to her grandfather. Using a blend of fact and fiction, Charlotte Philby has created a compelling piece of writing that is also so very difficult to fully comprehend. This is real. Most of the main players are real. This is a true-life story of espionage but at its centre is Edith Tudor-Hart, a mother, a woman considered a subversive, a woman passionate about what she believed in. This is her story and that of her connection to Kim Philby, The Third Man.
‘Philby was also a journalist but joined SIS (also known as MI6) in 1940. Just before the war ended, he was appointed head of SIS’s anti-Soviet section. Thus the man charged with running operations against the Soviets was a KGB agent. He later became chief British intelligence officer in the United States. In 1963, he defected to the Soviet Union, and died there.'– Source: BBC
Known as The Third Man in the Cambridge Five spy ring, Kim Philby was recommended as a possible Soviet spy by Edith Tudor-Hart. Born in Vienna and from a working class background, Edith Tudor-Hart (née Suschitzky) studied in the UK under Maria Montessori and later went to the Bauhaus where she studied photography. Edith always had a strong commitment to the communist cause and it was at the Bauhaus that she met like-minded individuals which further encouraged and nurtured her beliefs in the Soviet system.
Edith was an activist and a very strong believer in the communist cause, working for the NKVD (which later became known as the KGB) but never receiving any formal recognition or recompense for her services. Through marriage she came to London and with her photography she documented anything of note, passing and receiving relevant information via established routes. Kim Philby crossed paths with Edith in the early 1930s in Austria and, from the beginning, Edith recognised a like-minded soul. Kim Philby had a very unorthodox upbringing, describing his father as ‘a free man’. He followed the educational path of someone of his position but he was never committed to the life society expected of him.
“Which leads me to answer your real question: how such an apparently upper-class creature such as myself might betray his roots by coming here to slum it in the process of helping others? In order to understand that, you must understand one thing. To betray you must first belong. And believe me, Alexander, I never belonged” – Kim Philby
Over the years Edith’s activities in London did not go unnoticed and, throughout the book, Charlotte Philby has included snippets from original Secret Intelligence Files which demonstrate the covert observations that were taking place at the time. Edith Tudor-Hart was under surveillance for many years. Her husband was a doctor also with communist sympathies. He supported the International Brigade in Spain during the Civil War and offered his medical services, leaving Edith alone, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her young son, Tommy. She had always known Tommy was different from other boys but she was adamant that he had been emotionally damaged by the war and from being in the midst of the fractious relationship between his parents. Edith harboured a permanent guilt that his mental state was her fault. Tommy was eventually moved to a sanatorium for his own personal safety and the safety of others, including Edith.
The surveillance on Edith was obvious to her. She did her best to continue with her day job as a photographer and her furtive assignments but it all was taking its toll on her. She eventually was left with no choice but to leave London and go to Brighton where one can only assume her life was difficult.
“Though no link was ever proven, Edith was prevented from working as a photographer and, at the age of 44, she fled to Brighton where she opened an antique shop in the North Laine. She died 20 years later in a pauper’s hospice, her only child incarcerated in an asylum, her ashes scattered by an employee of the home, in the absence of family or friends. Meanwhile she was effectively shunned by the Soviet regime to which she gave her life, without ever accepting a penny for her work.” – Charlotte Philby
Edith and Kim provides a fascinating insight into Edith Tudor-Hart, highlighting her early years in Vienna and the high price she paid for an ideology that she truly believed in. Charlotte Philby came upon her purely by accident during research and was immediately intrigued by this woman, this unknown individual who was very strongly connected to her grandfather. Using a blend of fact and fiction, Charlotte Philby has created a compelling piece of writing that is also so very difficult to fully comprehend. This is real. Most of the main players are real. This is a true-life story of espionage but at its centre is Edith Tudor-Hart, a mother, a woman considered a subversive, a woman passionate about what she believed in. This is her story and that of her connection to Kim Philby, The Third Man.
June 8, 2022
Fiction based on fact across Europe and Russia
The era of the Cold War, and the spy circle in which Kim Philby was a player, filtered into my early childhood years. He was the third man in the Cambridge Five spy ring and this story is told by his granddaughter, Charlotte, focussing on the woman who recruited him and passed him to his Soviet handler. The names still reverberate with me – Donald Maclean (1913 – 1983), Guy Burgess (1911 – 1963), Harold ‘Kim’ Philby (1912 – 1988) and Anthony Blunt (1907 – 1983). Kim Philby was a journalist who joined MI6 and came to be in charge of SIS (the anti-Soviet section) but by this point he was already a KGB agent. Really, it feels like wheels within wheels of deceit in the world of the double agent and spying, rather difficult to keep up! However, it is not really her grandfather who interests here but the little known woman who recruited him and who didn’t get the same attention as the men. A fascinating and noteworthy person, by all accounts.
The novel opens with the early years of Edith Suschitzky, who was the daughter of a bookstore owner in Vienna, which sold books that were radical and left wing. Her left wing journey had already thus started when she was a small child. She studied in London under Maria Montessori and then went on to study photography in Dessau where the influence of the Bauhaus movement dominated. She married Alex Tudor-Hart and they moved to London.
She worked for the NKVD (later to be known as the KGB), yet was largely unacknowledged. Once she was in London, she began to forge her secret career. The author includes various snippets that she discovered in the Secret Intelligence Files which evidence that she was being scrutinised.
The author just happened upon this woman, who has come to be so central in this narrative – and where fact and fiction are blended – whilst researching her grandfather. It is a fascinating story, formulated with linear progression. I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator, on the face of it, had the era appropriate, crisp accent and could get her tongue around German (Austrian) words, but overall the narration. for me, felt like quite a dry and starchy listening experience. It would perhaps have been a richer read had I had access to the novel in written form.
The era of the Cold War, and the spy circle in which Kim Philby was a player, filtered into my early childhood years. He was the third man in the Cambridge Five spy ring and this story is told by his granddaughter, Charlotte, focussing on the woman who recruited him and passed him to his Soviet handler. The names still reverberate with me – Donald Maclean (1913 – 1983), Guy Burgess (1911 – 1963), Harold ‘Kim’ Philby (1912 – 1988) and Anthony Blunt (1907 – 1983). Kim Philby was a journalist who joined MI6 and came to be in charge of SIS (the anti-Soviet section) but by this point he was already a KGB agent. Really, it feels like wheels within wheels of deceit in the world of the double agent and spying, rather difficult to keep up! However, it is not really her grandfather who interests here but the little known woman who recruited him and who didn’t get the same attention as the men. A fascinating and noteworthy person, by all accounts.
The novel opens with the early years of Edith Suschitzky, who was the daughter of a bookstore owner in Vienna, which sold books that were radical and left wing. Her left wing journey had already thus started when she was a small child. She studied in London under Maria Montessori and then went on to study photography in Dessau where the influence of the Bauhaus movement dominated. She married Alex Tudor-Hart and they moved to London.
She worked for the NKVD (later to be known as the KGB), yet was largely unacknowledged. Once she was in London, she began to forge her secret career. The author includes various snippets that she discovered in the Secret Intelligence Files which evidence that she was being scrutinised.
The author just happened upon this woman, who has come to be so central in this narrative – and where fact and fiction are blended – whilst researching her grandfather. It is a fascinating story, formulated with linear progression. I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator, on the face of it, had the era appropriate, crisp accent and could get her tongue around German (Austrian) words, but overall the narration. for me, felt like quite a dry and starchy listening experience. It would perhaps have been a richer read had I had access to the novel in written form.
June 12, 2022
I didn’t love it - but learnt lots about the British spies and the idealistic communists of the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Read
July 30, 2022Terrible
February 8, 2023
Kim Philby - no explanation needed if you recall/have seen the oft-played newsreel of the 1955 press conference he gave in his mother's Kensington flat smoothly denying he was the Third Man (together with Burgess and MacLean) and 'the last time I spoke to a Communist, knowing he was a Communist, was in 1934'.
But Edith Tudor-Hart? Er, don't think so. With a name like possibly one of Philby's upper class friends? Maybe the wife of one?
Edith Tudor-Hart, nee Suschitzky, was actually born in Vienna in 1908 to parents who held strong socialist beliefs which weren't radical enough for their daughter, a determined, action-oriented young Jewish woman who was to devote her life to the Communist cause.
Interest in this remarkable but, until lately, invisible woman moved up a gear with an exhibition of her life and work compiled by her great-nephew who also made the documentary, 'Tracking Edith'. It seems inevitable then that Charlotte Philby would write a book about her (in)famous grandfather and his connection to Edith whom, it's revealed, he met in Vienna in the thirties.
20s and 30s Austria was a hotbed of tumultuous political instability; with social democracy in decline, fascist and anti-Jewish feeling took hold eventually precipitating the rise of Nazism. The author depicts Edith as a political animal, a fervent anti-fascist as was her friend Litzi Friedmann. They mixed and mingled with other social justice idealists - young British middle class people who travelled to Vienna to take part in the struggle against fascism and help Austrian refugees escape to England via France.
Included amongst these far-left thinkers were Kim Philby, Beatrix Tudor-Hart and her medical student brother, Alexander who Edith was later to marry. Litzi became Kim Philby's wife and all created their own lives in London. History was being made.
Edith had previously lived briefly in England where she had trained, at age 16, in Montessori teaching methods, a philosophy that would later influence the parenting of her son, Tommy. She had also studied photography at the Bauhaus; her waist-held camera was to become the tool for providing a social commentary of people dispossessed by the State. Ms Philby is building a picture of a strong minded, hard working, intelligent young woman intent on living her principles. Indeed, in Vienna, she had been imprisoned for acting as a Communist courier.
Fatefully, in Vienna, she had attracted the attention of Arnold Deutsch, a Soviet agent who recruited - among others - Edith as a Russian spy. They became intermittent lovers, Edith always remaining attached body and soul to both the sexually unfaithful man (fidelity was bourgeois) and the Communist ideology they both espoused.
The author charts the parallel personal, professional and secret lives of Edith in England (mainly) and Kim (hic et ubique). Edith earned her living through her photography, employing her camera as an extension of her social conscience, documenting social deprivation in London and the Rhondda Valley, Wales where she and Alexander, now qualified, lived supporting unemployed miners and their families. Edith's photo realism featured in national publications. A revelation - for me - was that the well-known photo portrait of a young Philby, pipe in mouth, was hers.
Her marriage gradually disintegrates in the late 30s and she becomes a solo parent to her son, Tommy who would probably now be diagnosed as being on the severe end of the autistic spectrum.
Edith's espionage work for the Soviet Union in London included acting as a courier, passing on secrets from fellow spies to her handler, making one-to- one connections between fellow Communists and suggesting - to the her peripatetic, ex-lover Arnold Deutsch - potential new recruits; one of these was Kim Philby.
While Philby manoeuvred himself (with charm, membership of the ruling elite, affability and diligence, well described in Ben Macintyre's 'Spy Among Friends') into the dizzy heights of the SIS (later renamed MI6) before suspicions began to accrue about his true allegiance, Edith's life was not at all smooth running. Her life revolved around her commitment to her belief that Communism held the answers to social inequity, was the corrective to a world threatened by the threat of fascism. But the pressure of Edith's secret life (a sense she was being watched, her post intercepted, her name linked to a known and recently imprisoned Communist activist and being taken in for questioning) had to be balanced with her exhausting devotion to her beloved Tommy.
Edith was to seek out answers from several specialists about treatment to calm her increasingly volatile son but one by one they let her down. Despite some respite care from her anxious Mother and sister-in-law, Edith was exhausted, worrying about Tommy and constantly trying to make ends meet. Edith makes a decision and carries the guilt for the rest of her life. It's a tragic tale; it all ends in tears for Edith but in clover for Kim.
But 'Edith and Kim' is, the author says in the introduction, a work of fiction based on these two individuals' real life stories. It's therefore sometimes less than clear where the lines of the imagined, the facts and the elaborated facts are drawn. However, it makes for compelling reading especially Edith's heart-rending story and for those intrigued by the double life of Kim Philby.
Charlotte Philby has adopted a multi-layered format to tell her tale. Edith's storyline alternates with Kim's but share the same chapters. Their narratives are interspersed with the actual Secret Intelligence Service files, which confirm that Edith was indeed a person of interest from 1930 on.
In addition, the author includes letters to Edith written by Kim from Moscow. A fiction but the contents, according to the author, are adapted from the letters Philby wrote to his family members. They are curiously quotidian, referring to the weather, observations from his apartment window, records of visitors, books read, opera and ballet enjoyed, his partner 'Nina', a commentary on the excesses of Reagan and Thatcher.
In his final letter, however, he writes (or his grand daughter does): 'We never asked for anything. Not money, not glory. We made sacrifices because we believed they were worthwhile. We believed that fervently, didn't we, Edith?' Elsewhere he had declared, 'To betray you must belong and I never belonged.' Both kept to their Communist ideals despite Stalin's purges and the Russian-German non-aggression pact.
'Edith and Kim' is a unique way of shedding light on the shadowy figure of Edith, the first name in the book's title and her connection to perhaps the world's most (in)famous spy. Edith was an honourable, conscientious and also tragic woman who played a significant role in betraying her adopted country but never her beliefs. Would this novel grab the interest of those unfamiliar with Kim Philby et al? Maybe, maybe not.
Putting aside some jarring contemporary expressions and the use of
dialogue for exposition, Charlotte has served both Edith and Kim well. 4 stars.
But Edith Tudor-Hart? Er, don't think so. With a name like possibly one of Philby's upper class friends? Maybe the wife of one?
Edith Tudor-Hart, nee Suschitzky, was actually born in Vienna in 1908 to parents who held strong socialist beliefs which weren't radical enough for their daughter, a determined, action-oriented young Jewish woman who was to devote her life to the Communist cause.
Interest in this remarkable but, until lately, invisible woman moved up a gear with an exhibition of her life and work compiled by her great-nephew who also made the documentary, 'Tracking Edith'. It seems inevitable then that Charlotte Philby would write a book about her (in)famous grandfather and his connection to Edith whom, it's revealed, he met in Vienna in the thirties.
20s and 30s Austria was a hotbed of tumultuous political instability; with social democracy in decline, fascist and anti-Jewish feeling took hold eventually precipitating the rise of Nazism. The author depicts Edith as a political animal, a fervent anti-fascist as was her friend Litzi Friedmann. They mixed and mingled with other social justice idealists - young British middle class people who travelled to Vienna to take part in the struggle against fascism and help Austrian refugees escape to England via France.
Included amongst these far-left thinkers were Kim Philby, Beatrix Tudor-Hart and her medical student brother, Alexander who Edith was later to marry. Litzi became Kim Philby's wife and all created their own lives in London. History was being made.
Edith had previously lived briefly in England where she had trained, at age 16, in Montessori teaching methods, a philosophy that would later influence the parenting of her son, Tommy. She had also studied photography at the Bauhaus; her waist-held camera was to become the tool for providing a social commentary of people dispossessed by the State. Ms Philby is building a picture of a strong minded, hard working, intelligent young woman intent on living her principles. Indeed, in Vienna, she had been imprisoned for acting as a Communist courier.
Fatefully, in Vienna, she had attracted the attention of Arnold Deutsch, a Soviet agent who recruited - among others - Edith as a Russian spy. They became intermittent lovers, Edith always remaining attached body and soul to both the sexually unfaithful man (fidelity was bourgeois) and the Communist ideology they both espoused.
The author charts the parallel personal, professional and secret lives of Edith in England (mainly) and Kim (hic et ubique). Edith earned her living through her photography, employing her camera as an extension of her social conscience, documenting social deprivation in London and the Rhondda Valley, Wales where she and Alexander, now qualified, lived supporting unemployed miners and their families. Edith's photo realism featured in national publications. A revelation - for me - was that the well-known photo portrait of a young Philby, pipe in mouth, was hers.
Her marriage gradually disintegrates in the late 30s and she becomes a solo parent to her son, Tommy who would probably now be diagnosed as being on the severe end of the autistic spectrum.
Edith's espionage work for the Soviet Union in London included acting as a courier, passing on secrets from fellow spies to her handler, making one-to- one connections between fellow Communists and suggesting - to the her peripatetic, ex-lover Arnold Deutsch - potential new recruits; one of these was Kim Philby.
While Philby manoeuvred himself (with charm, membership of the ruling elite, affability and diligence, well described in Ben Macintyre's 'Spy Among Friends') into the dizzy heights of the SIS (later renamed MI6) before suspicions began to accrue about his true allegiance, Edith's life was not at all smooth running. Her life revolved around her commitment to her belief that Communism held the answers to social inequity, was the corrective to a world threatened by the threat of fascism. But the pressure of Edith's secret life (a sense she was being watched, her post intercepted, her name linked to a known and recently imprisoned Communist activist and being taken in for questioning) had to be balanced with her exhausting devotion to her beloved Tommy.
Edith was to seek out answers from several specialists about treatment to calm her increasingly volatile son but one by one they let her down. Despite some respite care from her anxious Mother and sister-in-law, Edith was exhausted, worrying about Tommy and constantly trying to make ends meet. Edith makes a decision and carries the guilt for the rest of her life. It's a tragic tale; it all ends in tears for Edith but in clover for Kim.
But 'Edith and Kim' is, the author says in the introduction, a work of fiction based on these two individuals' real life stories. It's therefore sometimes less than clear where the lines of the imagined, the facts and the elaborated facts are drawn. However, it makes for compelling reading especially Edith's heart-rending story and for those intrigued by the double life of Kim Philby.
Charlotte Philby has adopted a multi-layered format to tell her tale. Edith's storyline alternates with Kim's but share the same chapters. Their narratives are interspersed with the actual Secret Intelligence Service files, which confirm that Edith was indeed a person of interest from 1930 on.
In addition, the author includes letters to Edith written by Kim from Moscow. A fiction but the contents, according to the author, are adapted from the letters Philby wrote to his family members. They are curiously quotidian, referring to the weather, observations from his apartment window, records of visitors, books read, opera and ballet enjoyed, his partner 'Nina', a commentary on the excesses of Reagan and Thatcher.
In his final letter, however, he writes (or his grand daughter does): 'We never asked for anything. Not money, not glory. We made sacrifices because we believed they were worthwhile. We believed that fervently, didn't we, Edith?' Elsewhere he had declared, 'To betray you must belong and I never belonged.' Both kept to their Communist ideals despite Stalin's purges and the Russian-German non-aggression pact.
'Edith and Kim' is a unique way of shedding light on the shadowy figure of Edith, the first name in the book's title and her connection to perhaps the world's most (in)famous spy. Edith was an honourable, conscientious and also tragic woman who played a significant role in betraying her adopted country but never her beliefs. Would this novel grab the interest of those unfamiliar with Kim Philby et al? Maybe, maybe not.
Putting aside some jarring contemporary expressions and the use of
dialogue for exposition, Charlotte has served both Edith and Kim well. 4 stars.
April 28, 2022
I really wanted to enjoy this book. The various reviews I had read in the press were very positive, and having had a lifelong interest in espionage, a novel recounting a significant relationship in the life of Kim Philby, written by his granddaughter seemed especially appealing. I also like what i have seen and read about Charlotte Philby herself.
Sadly, however, I found it very heavy going, and struggled to complete it. I would say that this is really one for the purists only.
Sadly, however, I found it very heavy going, and struggled to complete it. I would say that this is really one for the purists only.
August 11, 2022
As a work of fiction, it was disappointing; as a work based on historical events it was flat when it should have been exciting.
A good editor might have been able to massage something good out of the material, but as-is, readers are left with too many addresses and street names, and not enough inner life of the principal characters.
A good editor might have been able to massage something good out of the material, but as-is, readers are left with too many addresses and street names, and not enough inner life of the principal characters.
June 22, 2023
For those with an interest in the world of the Cambridge 5 espionage sagas this novel from Kim Philby's granddaughter inevitably would provoke some interest. Amid the wealth of literature already abounding, CP has shone a valuable spotlight on Edith Tudor Hart, a Viennese communist émigré who helped recruit KP to the Soviet intelligence services. Despite the title, this book is her story, and despite the title the two characters are rarely ever together, with ETH's story interspersed with fictionalised letters ( set after his escape to Russia ) to Edith throughout. In addition to this appearance of historical truth are actual historical truths, albeit edited and redacted, in the form of British intelligence service reports on ETH as they have been monitoring her since her arrival in Austria in the 1930s.
Thus, it is interesting and absorbing, but also feels quite strange and detatched. It feels like the determination to be faithful to a storyline, and limiting artistic license ends up creating quite a constrained and partial portrait of Edith's life. In fairness the author does acknowledge she has taken out certain names out of 'fairness', be they friends and family members of those involved. However, the feel of the novel suffers as a result I think.
In the following of Edith's story, and keen to encompass well known significant historial markers during this period ( i.e. when certain handlers were killed, touchstone points cold war espionage in the 40s and 50s and so forth ) means her narrative feels at times forced and disjointed. We might meet an ancillary character, but meet them only fleetingly in a few paragraphs here and there, one wonders if they were added in for historical accuracy, or if it was editing out further details resulted in a streamlined picture of said person.
Because of the fascination with this period I think many readers will always retain a level of interest in the book, and it does a good job of bringing Edith to life to a certain degree, but I do think it would have benefited from a more conscious fictionalising of characters, to not worry quite so much about fidelity to text as the restraining hand of the connected author feels a little too visible at times, and in those moments one wonders whether a more straight forward biography would have been a preferable option.
Nevertheless, it is not terrible.
Thus, it is interesting and absorbing, but also feels quite strange and detatched. It feels like the determination to be faithful to a storyline, and limiting artistic license ends up creating quite a constrained and partial portrait of Edith's life. In fairness the author does acknowledge she has taken out certain names out of 'fairness', be they friends and family members of those involved. However, the feel of the novel suffers as a result I think.
In the following of Edith's story, and keen to encompass well known significant historial markers during this period ( i.e. when certain handlers were killed, touchstone points cold war espionage in the 40s and 50s and so forth ) means her narrative feels at times forced and disjointed. We might meet an ancillary character, but meet them only fleetingly in a few paragraphs here and there, one wonders if they were added in for historical accuracy, or if it was editing out further details resulted in a streamlined picture of said person.
Because of the fascination with this period I think many readers will always retain a level of interest in the book, and it does a good job of bringing Edith to life to a certain degree, but I do think it would have benefited from a more conscious fictionalising of characters, to not worry quite so much about fidelity to text as the restraining hand of the connected author feels a little too visible at times, and in those moments one wonders whether a more straight forward biography would have been a preferable option.
Nevertheless, it is not terrible.
April 13, 2022
“Dear Edith, I’ve just received copies of various articles about yours truly, in the British press, sent via my children. The Observer pictures were a bit more flattering than the ones in the Daily Mail; thankfully I am much too old to worry about my looks. Much mention of Cambridge. It rather leads me to wonder what bothers them more: what I did, or the fact of who I was.” - from ‘Edith and Kim’.
My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC and to HarperCollins U.K. Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘Edith and Kim’ by Charlotte Philby in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook is narrated by Sofia Engstrand.
This was a fascinating work of spy fiction based on true events and individuals. It examines the life of Edith Tudor-Hart, the woman who in 1934 introduced Kim Philby, Britain’s most infamous communist double-agent, known as the elusive ‘third man’ in the notorious Cambridge spy ring, to his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. In doing so she changed the course of 20th century history though she was then written out of it. ….Yet thanks to Charlotte Philby no longer.
Charlotte is the granddaughter of Kim Philby and brings a unique perspective to her subject matter. In her Author’s Note she advises that while ‘Edith and Kim’ is a novel much of it is true. She has drawn upon the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor-Hart along with private archive letters of Kim Philby as well as, in Charlotte’s words, “interviews, his autobiography, anecdotes, family folklore, and my imagination” to tell the story of the woman behind the Third Man.
As someone who enjoys spy fiction, especially the le Carre style that is grounded in history and tradecraft, this proved a fascinating novel.
With respect to the audiobook, I have enjoyed a few audiobooks narrated by British-Swedish actor, Sofia Engstrand. Her voice is very easy to listen to and I felt that she brought a sense of gravitas to her reading of the novel.
Overall, I found ‘Edith and Kim’ a well written compelling read. Following this positive experience I plan to explore more of Charlotte Philby’s writings.
My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC and to HarperCollins U.K. Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘Edith and Kim’ by Charlotte Philby in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook is narrated by Sofia Engstrand.
This was a fascinating work of spy fiction based on true events and individuals. It examines the life of Edith Tudor-Hart, the woman who in 1934 introduced Kim Philby, Britain’s most infamous communist double-agent, known as the elusive ‘third man’ in the notorious Cambridge spy ring, to his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. In doing so she changed the course of 20th century history though she was then written out of it. ….Yet thanks to Charlotte Philby no longer.
Charlotte is the granddaughter of Kim Philby and brings a unique perspective to her subject matter. In her Author’s Note she advises that while ‘Edith and Kim’ is a novel much of it is true. She has drawn upon the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor-Hart along with private archive letters of Kim Philby as well as, in Charlotte’s words, “interviews, his autobiography, anecdotes, family folklore, and my imagination” to tell the story of the woman behind the Third Man.
As someone who enjoys spy fiction, especially the le Carre style that is grounded in history and tradecraft, this proved a fascinating novel.
With respect to the audiobook, I have enjoyed a few audiobooks narrated by British-Swedish actor, Sofia Engstrand. Her voice is very easy to listen to and I felt that she brought a sense of gravitas to her reading of the novel.
Overall, I found ‘Edith and Kim’ a well written compelling read. Following this positive experience I plan to explore more of Charlotte Philby’s writings.
March 6, 2022
This novel tells the life story of Edith Tudor-Hart and I found it at times sad and at times moving – from the hope and naivety of youth, to antisemitism in Austria, Bauhas in Germany, pre-war London communist meetings and literary salons. Edith is a photographer and documents the lives of people and sells her work to newspapers. She is a Russian agent. She is a mother and a lover. This is a story about domesticity and place and not fitting in.
The story unfolds over many years and is interspersed with letters from Kim Philby and special branch reports on Edith and her accomplices. Kim’s letters from Russia tell us about his life in exile which whilst being comfortable seems flat and unfulfilling.
The writing is beautiful, and it really evokes a time and a place - there is a sense of loss and longing for innocence and the purity of the cause. The costs of belief and duplicity are shown to be isolation and paranoia. Predominantly set in North London – it has lots of street names I recognize; from 132C Sutherland Avenue in Maida Vale to Haverstock Hill in Belsize Park – I loved walking around and seeing the places that Edith lived and imagining what it was like in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
This is a fantastic book that most closely evokes the work of Le Carre – with it’s bitter-sweet sense of loss.
The story unfolds over many years and is interspersed with letters from Kim Philby and special branch reports on Edith and her accomplices. Kim’s letters from Russia tell us about his life in exile which whilst being comfortable seems flat and unfulfilling.
The writing is beautiful, and it really evokes a time and a place - there is a sense of loss and longing for innocence and the purity of the cause. The costs of belief and duplicity are shown to be isolation and paranoia. Predominantly set in North London – it has lots of street names I recognize; from 132C Sutherland Avenue in Maida Vale to Haverstock Hill in Belsize Park – I loved walking around and seeing the places that Edith lived and imagining what it was like in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
This is a fantastic book that most closely evokes the work of Le Carre – with it’s bitter-sweet sense of loss.
August 18, 2024
I heard Charlotte Philby interviewed on the Cold War Conversation podcast where she discussed the novel. I would echo other readers in saying that the historical context is often clumsy. You feel outside of the story at these points. As well, Philby has Edith and a Soviet agent discussing the Manhattan Project by its cover name in early 1942--did anyone go around using this in conversation at that time, even between spies? Tradecraft and all that. Seems unlikely.
While the novel is called Edith and Kim, most of story is about Edith and her story is compelling; a single mother with a schizophrenic son while also working for Soviet intelligence as a recruiter and courier. Over time all the people she knows die or move on and she's achingly alone by the end of the story, a marginalized figure. Kim Philby appears mainly in a series of self-serving and self-regarding (fictional) letters which are very good. There's a twist to them I won't reveal here. The letters cast Philby as a world-class narcissist, which I believe he was based on my own interest in his case. More ego than ideology.
Charlotte Philby ends with Kim musing that history would judge them favorably. Edith, possibly, Kim, no.
While the novel is called Edith and Kim, most of story is about Edith and her story is compelling; a single mother with a schizophrenic son while also working for Soviet intelligence as a recruiter and courier. Over time all the people she knows die or move on and she's achingly alone by the end of the story, a marginalized figure. Kim Philby appears mainly in a series of self-serving and self-regarding (fictional) letters which are very good. There's a twist to them I won't reveal here. The letters cast Philby as a world-class narcissist, which I believe he was based on my own interest in his case. More ego than ideology.
Charlotte Philby ends with Kim musing that history would judge them favorably. Edith, possibly, Kim, no.
April 9, 2022
Edith and Kim brings to life the story of Edith Tudor-Heart, a woman who had a huge impact on the 20th century.
Edith Tudor-Heart was an activist and communist. A single mother in London and a photographer, taking photos for a cause, Edith is a woman of many layers. Her paths intertwine with notorious Cambridge Spy Kim Philby, not least she introduced him to his KGB handler but has, until now, been airbrushed out out history.
Charlotte Philby, granddaughter of Kim, makes deft work of this non-fiction account interweaved with fiction, to provide a slow burn narrative. It is interspersed with documents from the authorities who were keeping an eye on Edith and letters from Kim. It is an intriguing tale which is well brought to life, if not a little too slow in places. It is a unique take on the Cambridge Spies and one which I am grateful to have read.
I listened to the audiobook which was professionally read, but not hugely engaging. I suspect I would have enjoyed the book more.
Thanks to Harper Collins Audio and Netgalley for an advance copy.
Edith Tudor-Heart was an activist and communist. A single mother in London and a photographer, taking photos for a cause, Edith is a woman of many layers. Her paths intertwine with notorious Cambridge Spy Kim Philby, not least she introduced him to his KGB handler but has, until now, been airbrushed out out history.
Charlotte Philby, granddaughter of Kim, makes deft work of this non-fiction account interweaved with fiction, to provide a slow burn narrative. It is interspersed with documents from the authorities who were keeping an eye on Edith and letters from Kim. It is an intriguing tale which is well brought to life, if not a little too slow in places. It is a unique take on the Cambridge Spies and one which I am grateful to have read.
I listened to the audiobook which was professionally read, but not hugely engaging. I suspect I would have enjoyed the book more.
Thanks to Harper Collins Audio and Netgalley for an advance copy.
May 18, 2022
I have an interest in the Cambridge Spies and Cold War and as such couldn’t pass up the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of Edith and Kim. I was drawn to the book as it is written by Kim Philby’s grand-daughter.
Until recently, Edith Tudor-Hart (nee Suschitzky) was only seen as a bit player, but she brought Kim Philby together with his KGB handler Arnold Deutsch.
Whilst being a book of historical fiction - it is incredibly well researched and weaves in Secret Intelligence files on Edith Tudor-Hart and letters written by Kim Philby.
I struggled with the audiobook which was proficiently narrated, but felt a little dry. It took me a while to work my way through the audiobook. I will however order a copy of the book and read it. I think that it I’d really be able to get my teeth into the book.
Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for making this audiobook available for me for a fair and honest review.
Until recently, Edith Tudor-Hart (nee Suschitzky) was only seen as a bit player, but she brought Kim Philby together with his KGB handler Arnold Deutsch.
Whilst being a book of historical fiction - it is incredibly well researched and weaves in Secret Intelligence files on Edith Tudor-Hart and letters written by Kim Philby.
I struggled with the audiobook which was proficiently narrated, but felt a little dry. It took me a while to work my way through the audiobook. I will however order a copy of the book and read it. I think that it I’d really be able to get my teeth into the book.
Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for making this audiobook available for me for a fair and honest review.
August 15, 2023
Undercover Communist Party activists in Austria and Great Britain in the 1930s-1950s, that should be fascinating! So, why was this book such a slog? The actual spying and sneaking was kinda intriguing, but it wasn't written that way, just too detached and plain. I did not feel connected, nor did I have any empathy or feelings toward any of the characters, Edith particularly. And Kim Philby, as well. These are real people! Their facts exist, so all you have to do as the author is make them relatable and interesting -- and she does neither.
And then, to save for the very last page the official information about whether Kim and Edith knew each other. As if that was a big reveal, when hello, look at the title of the book! I just found this book to be bland, like it's in black & white, when other books about the spies of this era are in full color. I can't put my finger on why exactly it's so meh.
And then, to save for the very last page the official information about whether Kim and Edith knew each other. As if that was a big reveal, when hello, look at the title of the book! I just found this book to be bland, like it's in black & white, when other books about the spies of this era are in full color. I can't put my finger on why exactly it's so meh.
February 7, 2025
Fascinating insight into the life of Edith Tudor-Hart and her associations with the spy, Kim Philby. Reading this book as part of an absorbing rabbit hole that I’ve dived down exploring, Edith Tudor-Hart’s connections with the Bauhaus, Vienna, the Isokon building in Hampstead and intriguingly espionage (as the apparent recruiter of Kim Philby).
Well written - as is inevitable with a work like this, kept wondering which parts were fiction and which true - however the book does contain copies of original documents from Kew archives.
So interesting, but also sad story - this book led me to further investigation and rabbit holes - trying to find copies of her photos (sadly much of it destroyed), and to keep finding out more about the lesser known (ie women) cast during this crucial period in our history.
Well written - as is inevitable with a work like this, kept wondering which parts were fiction and which true - however the book does contain copies of original documents from Kew archives.
So interesting, but also sad story - this book led me to further investigation and rabbit holes - trying to find copies of her photos (sadly much of it destroyed), and to keep finding out more about the lesser known (ie women) cast during this crucial period in our history.
March 29, 2022
I love a spy novel and this one turned out to be just as excellent as I had anticipated. This is a partly fictionalised telling of the story of Kim Philby, the famous Soviet double agent, and the woman who recruited him, Edith Suschitzky. The novel focuses largely on Edith which was a pleasant surprise as most spy novels do not go into the particulars of those working in the background. The novel was at times incredibly sad and deeply moving. I really enjoyed this book - the only downside for me being that the first half of the book was rather difficult to follow as there were so many characters introduced and the letters and files felt like they were just randomly slotted in amongst the story (although this was perhaps due to reading a digital copy!)
April 11, 2022
This is a really engaging novel, partially based on real events. There's a really cool note at the beginning of the book, which explains the tapestry of files, correspondence, family folklore and fiction that makes Edith and Kim up. I've never read a spy novel about a female spy who has to maintain a domestic life, having a child, etc. while maintaining her spy work. The audiobook is really enjoyable and compels you through the story. Coming to this book from Le Carré's Smiley novels that interact with Kim Philby's real-life, I'd expected more of Kim from the blurb and marketing. That said, the most enjoyable thing about the book for me is how the story is punctuated with Philby’s letters to Edith from exile, unmasking their connection decades on.
July 31, 2023
A well written book of historical fiction, Edith and Kim adds insights into the motivations and perspectives of those who supported socialism in the early twentieth century by becoming involved in spying for the cause. It is difficult for modern day readers to understand the high and desperate stakes that formed the struggle between socialism and fascism, but this book gives it empathy and authenticity. It reminds us that while people were busy trying to change the world, they also had to live in it and navigate the awful choices that their situations presented them with, especially so for refugees such as Edith.
March 19, 2022
This was a book with a difference focussing upon Edith-Tudor Hart and how she helped to recruit Soviet master spy Kim Philby.
Written by his grand daughter Charlotte, this is ostensibly fiction but is also based on government files and private letters.
Slow moving but engrossing she paints an evocative portrait of a committed activist and also a single working mother.
A patient but worthwhile read.
Written by his grand daughter Charlotte, this is ostensibly fiction but is also based on government files and private letters.
Slow moving but engrossing she paints an evocative portrait of a committed activist and also a single working mother.
A patient but worthwhile read.
May 19, 2022
A well composed piece of work - lots of information to digest , names to place , different eras countries and regimes. The author has taken this information and made sense of it to give the general reader a fair chance of gaining additional knowledge on this ongoing ( forever) tale of betrayal , conscious and ideas.
I had to concentrate while reading and invest energy in understanding - if you are willing to do this you will probably enjoy this tale of 20th century spying and espionage.
I had to concentrate while reading and invest energy in understanding - if you are willing to do this you will probably enjoy this tale of 20th century spying and espionage.
April 21, 2022
It’s really a book about the fascinating Edith who was a spy for the Soviet Union .Kim Philby is a bit player but of course he is the one everyone knows . A mixture of authentic archives ,letters and good story telling this is a fascinating read . Spy novels are not my genre but this had me riveted .
May 26, 2022
An intriguing novel by Charlotte Philby (Kim Philby’s granddaughter) tracing the relationship between Philly and Edith Tudor-Hart, an Austrian photographer and communist sympathizer who lived in London from the late 1930s onwards. This has elements of the spy thriller about it, as well as the tragic circumstances of her own life.
May 9, 2022
I loved this book. A totally engrossing and credible story of the background to Kim Philby and the woman who may have introduced him to Moscow. It was a seductive read, appearing to be a biography whereas in fact it was a very accomplished novel based on known facts.
May 21, 2022
A fast paced narrative that is arranged chronologically, it is interspersed with security services file notes and correspondence from Philby (written near the end of his life). The book is biassed 80:20 between Edith(the principal character)and Kim.
September 6, 2022
I really enjoyed this intriguing story of mystery and spy rings; I got more of a sense of the conflict of the between the opposing ideologies of Communism and Nazism and how seemingly normal people could be drawn in to betray their country. Well written and thoroughly enjoyable.
October 9, 2022
A difficult but intriguing read about the life of Edith Tudor-Hart and her connection to Kim Philby, the infamous double agent. Was her dedication to the Cause (Communism) worth the high price she undoubtedly paid?
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