Agent Sonya cover art

Agent Sonya

Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Agent Sonya

By: Ben Macintyre
Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin

A TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'His best book yet' The Times

'Macintyre's page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause' Sunday Times

DISCOVER THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE SPY WHO ALMOST KILLED HITLER - FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR

Ursula Kuczynski Burton was a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent. Codenamed 'Agent Sonya', her story has never been told - until now.

Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. As a fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, Ursula was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society.

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 conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century.

In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian Ben Macintyre delivers an exhilarating tale that's as fast-paced as any fiction. It is the incredible story of one spy's life, a life that would alter the course of history . . .

'Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else' John Preston

'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times

'This book is classic Ben Macintyre . . . quirky human details enliven every page' Spectator


© Ben MacIntyre 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

20th Century Freedom & Security Military Modern Politics & Government Espionage Marriage Soviet Union War Funny Thought-Provoking Imperialism Socialism Village Solider

Listeners also enjoyed...

British Traitors cover art
The Book of Harlan cover art
Catching the Wind cover art
GCHQ: Centenary Edition cover art
An Impeccable Spy cover art
Madame Fourcade's Secret War cover art
Resistance Women cover art
The Looming Tower cover art
The Only Woman in the Room cover art
Spy Princess cover art
Code Name: Lise cover art
Flames in the Field cover art
Tears of Amber cover art
The Happy Traitor cover art

Critic reviews

Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else (John Preston)
Think John le Carré at his early best - but fact not fiction
This impeccably researched account of her double life spans continents and is brilliantly compelling
Macintyre's page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause
The best true spy story I have ever read (John le Carré on 'The Spy and the Traitor')
Thrilling...Macintyre will have you hooked to her life's every twist and turn (Lucy Knight)
Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart
This book is classic Ben Macintyre...quirky human details enliven every page... it is Macintyre's own vivid retelling of her perilous professional, personal and political life that make Agent Sonya such an accessible spy story.
He has the unerring gift of uncovering those astonishing truths that make even the best novelists of espionage seem both earthbound and artificial in comparison
His best book yet (The Times)
All stars
Most relevant
Another brilliant book from Ben Macintyre. A fascinating story of a remarkable spy and some incompetent British spy catching! The book is excellently narrated by the author and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in spies and history.

Superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What a complex woman. While her politics are not mine, she led a fascinating life of principle and danger, mixed with the everyday, mundane frailties of human beings through some of the darkest days of 20th Century history. Her life touched so much of the history we know today

Fascinating story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Accurately gets under the skin of a real anti-fascist intelligence drama, danger, commitment and family over 20 years.

Convincingly authentic and great read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I listened to an interview the author had done and was intrigued that all things in the book were true and verifiable. What a brilliant story/memoir/telling of events. Thoroughly enjoyed and recommend.

Female spy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed listening to this - I was gripped from start to finish! Sometimes there were a lot of names being thrown around and it was a little confusing as to who was who, but I guess that was needed in order to tell the story. Would definitely recommend and I'll be looking out for other books by the same author.

Really enjoyed this!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews