This book is a study of the operational center of Tsar Nicholas II's secret police (the Okhrana or Okhranka) during the peak of its activities and notoriety. It explores the gulf between the theory and practice of espionage, whereby attempts to create a rational bureaucratic surveillance machine clash with the unpredictable factor of human nature and its weaknesses. The author also examines the social and political friction aroused by the Okhrana during Imperial Russia's turbulent constitutional experiment. Rather than rehashing the old demonic image of a prototypical totalitarian secret police agency, Russian Hide-and-Seek places the Okhrana in its historical context: as an innovator among the Great Powers in the realms of political intelligence and counter-terrorism, striving to avert the precipitous descents into world war and revolution.

Some young readers may be unfamiliar with the child-stealing witch well known to Russian folklore. After reading this captivating book, they'll know all about Baba Yaga and other legendary creatures of Russia, such as the Brosno Dragon. This high-interest volume features colorful images paired with stimulating text. Eye-catching sidebars are included throughout the book and feature even more information about these interesting stories and creatures. This innovative book is sure to be a hit with curious readers of many ages and abilities.

A long-term intelligence expert reveals the full, behind-the-scenes story of how and why sanctions and diplomacy in Iraq were doomed to fail.

'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' - Elizabeth Bowen, author of The Heat of the Day Intelligent and haunting, with echoes of Brief Encounter, this is a love story by one of the best British writers of the 20th century. During summer games of hide and seek Harriet falls in love with Vesey and his elusive, teasing ways. When he goes to Oxford she cherishes his photograph and waits for a letter that never comes. Years pass and Harriet stifles her dreams; with a husband and daughter, she excels at respectability. But then Vesey reappears and her marriage seems to melt away. Harriet is older, it is much too late, but she is still in love with him.

A U.S. Foreign Affairs officer in Kyrgyzstan witnesses an abduction attempt that puts her on the run and in need of Special Ops rescue.

"A thriller dipped in poison ... shares some of le Carré’s fascination with secret worlds and the nature of evil." —The New York Times The terrifying, lengthening list of Russia’s use of lethal poisons against its critics has inspired acclaimed author Sergei Lebedev’s latest novel. With uncanny timing, he examines how and why Russia and the Soviet Union have developed horrendous neurotoxins. At its center is a ruthless chemist named Professor Kalitin, obsessed with developing an absolutely deadly, undetectable and untraceable poison for which there is no antidote. But Kalitin becomes consumed by guilt over countless deaths from his Faustian pact to create the ultimate venom. When the Soviet Union collapses, the chemist defects and is given a new identity in Western Europe. After another Russian is murdered with Kalitin's poison, his cover is blown and he's drawn into an investigation of the death by Western agents. Two special forces killers are sent to silence him―using his own undetectable poison. In this fast-paced, genre-bending tale, Lebedev weaves suspenseful pages of stunningly beautiful prose exploring the historical trajectories of evil. From Nazi labs, Stalinist plots and the Chechen Wars, to present-day Russia, Lebedev probes the ethical responsibilities of scientists supplying modern tyrants and autocrats with ever newer instruments of retribution, destruction and control.

**NAMED FINANCIAL TIMES "TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR"** **NAMED EVENING STANDARD "BOOK OF THE YEAR"** **NAMED NEW STATESMAN "BEST BOOK OF 2017"** A warm and intimate memoir by an acclaimed historian that explores the European struggles of the twentieth century through the lives, hopes, and dreams of a single family—his own. Uncovering their remarkable and moving stories, Mark Mazower recounts the sacrifices and silences that marked a generation and their descendants. It was a family which fate drove into the siege of Stalingrad, the Vilna ghetto, occupied Paris, and even into the ranks of the Wehrmacht. His British father was the lucky one, the son of Russian-Jewish emigrants who settled in London after escaping the Bolsheviks, civil war, and revolution. Max, the grandfather, had started out as a socialist and manned the barricades against Tsarist troops, never speaking a word about it afterwards. His wife Frouma came from a family ravaged by the Terror yet making their way in Soviet society despite it all. In the centenary of the Russian Revolution, What You Did Not Tell revitalizes the history of a socialism erased from memory--humanistic, impassioned, and broad-ranging in its sympathies. But it is also an exploration of the unexpected happiness that may await history's losers, of the power of friendship and the love of place that made his father at home in an England that no longer exists.

This book is a study of the operational center of Tsar Nicholas II's secret police (the Okhrana or Okhranka) during the peak of its activities and notoriety. It explores the gulf between the theory and practice of espionage, whereby attempts to create a rational bureaucratic surveillance machine clash with the unpredictable factor of human nature and its weaknesses. The author also examines the social and political friction aroused by the Okhrana during Imperial Russia's turbulent constitutional experiment. Rather than rehashing the old demonic image of a prototypical totalitarian secret police agency, Russian Hide-and-Seek places the Okhrana in its historical context: as an innovator among the Great Powers in the realms of political intelligence and counter-terrorism, striving to avert the precipitous descents into world war and revolution.

The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers Soon to be a Showtime/Paramount+ series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov From the number one New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel 'A wonderful book' - Tana French 'This novel is astonishing, uplifting and wise. Don't miss it' - Chris Cleave 'No historical novel this year was more witty, insightful or original' - Sunday Times, Books of the Year '[A] supremely uplifting novel ... It's elegant, witty and delightful - much like the Count himself.' - Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year 'Charming ... shows that not all books about Russian aristocrats have to be full of doom and nihilism' - The Times, Books of the Year On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov - recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt - is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval. Can a life without luxury be the richest of all? A BOOK OF THE DECADE, 2010-2020 (INDEPENDENT) THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A MAIL ON SUNDAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2017 ONE OF BILL GATES'S SUMMER READS OF 2019 NOMINATED FOR THE 2018 INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS WEEK AWARD

Through dramatic incidents tells for the first time the full story of the development of Cold War naval intelligence from the end of WWII to the breakup the Soviet Union in 1991, from both sides, East and West. Unlike other accounts, which focus on submarine confrontations and accidents, the authors cover all types of naval intelligence, human collection (racing with the Soviets to capture Nazi subs, successful and losing spies and defectors), signal intelligence (surface, air, satellite and navy commando teams in balaclavas launched by speed boats from subs), acoustic (passive underwater arrays and tapping phone lines), and the aerial and space reconnaissance. The authors give details of operations in all these areas, some of which were witnessed first hand. "A new light is shed on the spy ships incidents of the 1960s and on submarine intrusions in Swedish waters. Excerpts of the Soviet Navy instructions on UFOs and accounts of Soviet naval encounters with unexplained objects are also published for the first time outside of Russia; and much more."