Nominated for the Ballie Gifford Prize 2018 for the Specsavers National Book Awards 2018 Times best seller. Best book of 2018 according to The Economist newspaper.

The true story of the spy Oleg Antonievich Gordievsky who conveyed Soviet thinking to the West. On a warm afternoon in July 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the sidewalk of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic bag. He wore a gray suit and tie – just another ordinary Soviet citizen. Only the bag stood out, as it bore the logo of the British supermarket Safeway.

This man was a senior officer of the KGB, but he had caused more damage than any other person, as he was in fact a spy for MI6 and, for more than a decade, supplied the British with countless invaluable secrets of the Soviet intelligence services. His Safeway bag was the signal to implement his escape plan from Soviet Russia.

This was the beginning of one of the boldest and most unusual episodes in the history of espionage – a story of betrayal, deception, and unparalleled courage that forever changed the course of the Cold War.

Ben Macintyre is the author of several best-selling historical books, columnist, and contributor to The Times of London. He has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris, and Washington, and regularly presents BBC series based on his acclaimed works. His book Operation Mincemeat is also published by Klidarithmos Publications.

You can learn more about him at benmacintyre.com.