A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean by Roland Philipps

The infamous "Cambridge Five" spy ring, effectively headed by Donald Maclean, but which also included Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and the so-called "Fifth Man", John Cairncross, was the single most treacherous conspiracy of the entire Cold War. Volumes have been written on the subject, but we've had to wait until now for a definitive biography of the principal offender.

Written by none other than the grandson of the first Baron Sherfield, Sir Roger Makins, who was the last man from the Foreign Office to have seen Maclean before his hasty defection to Russia, this absorbing book fills a Cold War vacuum with a vengeance. With access to both hitherto classified files and family papers, we finally have a fully rounded view of an outrageously complex spy, whose impeccable dress, style and background belied his sexual ambivalence, alcoholic binges, dislike of the U.S. (despite, perversely, marrying an American), affection for Communism, and lifelong loathing of capitalism.

The prologue alone, which records the detail behind his unceremonious flight in six short pages, is quite enough to hook the reader. Four hundred pages of riveting history later, one wonders how on earth this brazenly unrepentant traitor managed to betray Britain - and get away with it - to the degree and as long as he did.

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