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The Partisan

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The Partisan

By: Patrick Worrall
Narrated by: Ben Allen
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

It is the summer of 1961, and the brutal Cold War between East and West is becoming ever more perilous.

Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played.

Shadowing them is Greta, a ruthless resistance fighter who grew up the hard way in the forests of Lithuania, but who is now hunting down some of the most dangerous men in the world.

Men who are also on the radar of Vassily, perhaps the Soviet Union's greatest spymaster. A man of cunning and influence, Vassily was Yulia's minder during her visit to the West, but even he could not foresee the consequences of her meeting Michael.

When the world is accelerating towards an inevitable and catastrophic conflict, what can just four people do to prevent it?

Epic in scope, The Partisan is a thrill ride like no other, taking you from the hallowed halls of Cambridge to the grimy depths of the Moscow underworld, from 1960s London to the Eastern Front in the Second World War.

©2022 Patrick Worrall (P)2022 Penguin Audio Espionage Historical Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Exciting Soviet Union Russia Fiction England Cold War

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All stars
Most relevant
Snooze during any point in this beautifully narrated audiobook and you will lose track of events in the complex WW2/Cold War saga.
It’s good but a rather demanding read that’s really two books in one; there are lots of characters, in lots of countries, jumping backwards and forwards over a period of about 60 years.
It’s very history heavy, with thinly veiled Soviet personalities, but also includes Nazis, nuclear arms, a Romeo and Juliet love story, and the Lithuanian partisan of the title. Plus some chess.
I’d have liked a narrower focus and a little more fiction, as a number of interesting characters got lost in the melee.

Two books in one

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Enjoyable in parts, but over-long, too many plot threads and temporal shifts. This, however, gave the excellent narrator a chance to show off his range of accents.

Tangled threads

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Incredibly well written, researched and every character is simply stunning in their individuality and sense of self, no matter how small their part might be. Read this in conjunction with Freya Berry’s splendid the Dictator’s Wife, though set twenty years later it’s a brilliant foil to this stunning book.

Unbelievably great!

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What a great find! The narration to this first rate book is brilliant! Did not want it to finish, and was disappointed to find no other books written by this author on Audiobooks!

Fantastic novel and narration!

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.... But I will admit to finding the story rather disjointed and consequently the characters rather hard to care about. It maybe me not concentrating enough, and sections of the story were gripping, but the overall effect left me slightly cold.

Enjoyed the historic insights....

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