Schemer, seductress, and sometime spy - this is a tale of espionage quite unlike any other.

Baroness Moura Budberg was notorious throughout 1950s London for her reputation as a gossip and a lover to several well-known writers and artists. She was deeply charismatic, commanding centre stage wherever she went, and beloved for the air of mystery and glamour that she cultivated around herself.

But despite her charms, even her closest friends knew very little of the truth. Prone to all sorts of tall-tales and decadent lies, Moura reinvented herself tirelessly, obfuscating her past and mythologising her present. But who was the real woman, behind all of her many faces?

Using material not previously available, Deborah McDonald and Jeremy Dronfield have managed to uncover the truth about the Baroness. At once a bohemian socialite, a courageous adventuress, a double agent for British and Soviet intelligence, and a woman that made great personal sacrifices in the name of love, Moura Budberg continues to seduce and compel all who know her today.

Deborah McDonald is a non-fiction writer and the author of Clara Collet: An Educated Working Woman and The Prince, His Tutor and the Ripper. Jeremy Dronfield was archaeologist in rescue excavation for many years, and conducted his doctoral research at Cambridge University on the subject of art and religion in prehistoric Ireland. He has several fiction and non-fiction titles to his name.

© 2027 Deborah McDonald & Jeremy Dronfield (P) 2027 DK Audio