Edith and Kim explores the story of Edith Tudor Hart, a woman written out of a part of history that is dominated by men. The author brings Edith’s story to life with superb research, skilful characterisation and an atmospheric sense of time and place. This audio version is read by Sofia Engstrand who brilliantly brings the story and the period to life.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to and review this digital audiobook.

I’m sorry to say I really struggled to get into this book. It’s an interesting new take on Kim Philby’s infamous fall from grace, but I didn’t find the narrator engaging at all so I didn’t listen to the end.

I really enjoyed this intriguing story of mystery and spy rings; I got more of a sense of the conflict of the between the opposing ideologies of Communism and Nazism and how seemingly normal people could be drawn in to betray their country. Well written and thoroughly enjoyable.

Unfortunately really couldn't get into this story! I felt it was confusing and the narrator's weren't great. Sucks

*Many thanks to Charlotte Philby, HarperCollins UK Audio, and NetGalley for the advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review.*
An interesting insight into the lives of Edith Tudor-Hart and Kim Philby, two people who were members of the infamous spy network created by the Soviets. The book, being a novel, leaves little to fiction as the author, personally connected to Kim Philby draws on a wide range of currently available information and deserves a praise for presenting it skillfully.
A book that will interest anyone who is into spy fiction and in spy reality ...

I have an interest in the Cambridge Spies and Cold War and as such couldn’t pass up the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of Edith and Kim. I was drawn to the book as it is written by Kim Philby’s grand-daughter.

Until recently, Edith Tudor-Hart (nee Suschitzky) was only seen as a bit player, but she brought Kim Philby together with his KGB handler Arnold Deutsch.

Whilst being a book of historical fiction - it is incredibly well researched and weaves in Secret Intelligence files on Edith Tudor-Hart and letters written by Kim Philby.

I struggled with the audiobook which was proficiently narrated, but felt a little dry. It took me a while to work my way through the audiobook. I will however order a copy of the book and read it. I think that it I’d really be able to get my teeth into the book.

Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for making this audiobook available for me for a fair and honest review.

A fascinating historical novel involving real people from the author's past. Beautiful and evocative. So glad I picked this one up!

The era of the Cold War and the spy circle in which Kim Philby was a player, filtered into my early childhood years. He was the third man in the Cambridge Five spy ring and this story is told by his granddaughter, Charlotte, focussing on the woman who recruited him and passed him to his Soviet handler. The names still reverberate with me - Donald Maclean (1913 - 1983), Guy Burgess (1911 - 1963), Harold 'Kim' Philby (1912 - 1988) and Anthony Blunt (1907 - 1983). Kim Philby was a journalist who joined MI6 and came to be in charge of SIS (the anti-Soviet section) but by this point he was already a KGB agent. Really, it feels like wheels within wheels of deceit in the world of the double agent and spying, rather difficult to keep up! However, it is not really her grandfather who interests here but the little known woman who recruited him and who didn't get the same attention as the men. A fascinating and noteworthy woman, by all accounts.

The novel opens with the early years of Edith Suschitzky, who was the daughter of a bookstore owner in Vienna, which sold books that were radical and left wing. Her left wing journey had already thus started when she was a small child. She studied in London under Maria Montessori and then went on to study photography in Dessau where the influence of the Bauhaus movement dominated. She married Alex Tudor-Hart and they moved to London.

She worked for the NKVD (later to be known as the KGB), yet was largely unacknowledged. Once she was in London, she began to forge her secret career. The author includes various snippets that she discovered in the Secret Intelligence Files which evidence that she was being scrutinised.

The author just happened upon this woman, who has come to be so central in this narrative - and where fact and fiction are blended - whilst  researching her grandfather. It is a fascinating story, formulated with linear progression. I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator, on the face of it, had the appropriate, crips accent and could get her tongue around German (Austrian) words, but overall the narration. for me, felt like quite a dry and starchy listening experience. It would perhaps have been a richer read had I had access to the novel in written form.

Historical spy novel set during the cold war. Exciting and moved at speed so I got swept up and couldn't put it down (audio). Extremely believable and although a work of fiction is loosely based around true events. Insight into Edith Tudor-Hart and the other characters, is so we'll described so If you like espionage then you will love this book. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

“Dear Edith, I’ve just received copies of various articles about yours truly, in the British press, sent via my children. The Observer pictures were a bit more flattering than the ones in the Daily Mail; thankfully I am much too old to worry about my looks. Much mention of Cambridge. It rather leads me to wonder what bothers them more: what I did, or the fact of who I was.” - from ‘Edith and Kim’.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition, of ‘Edith and Kim’ by Charlotte Philby in exchange for an honest review. The audiobook is narrated by Sofia Engstrand.

This was a fascinating work of spy fiction based on true events and individuals. It examines the life of Edith Tudor-Hart, the woman who in 1934 introduced Kim Philby, Britain’s most infamous communist double-agent, known as the elusive ‘third man’ in the notorious Cambridge spy ring, to his Soviet handler, the spy Arnold Deutsch. In doing so she changed the course of 20th century history though she was then written out of it. ….Yet thanks to Charlotte Philby no longer.

Charlotte is the granddaughter of Kim Philby and brings a unique perspective to her subject matter. In her Author’s Note she advises that while ‘Edith and Kim’ is a novel much of it is true. She has drawn upon the Secret Intelligence Files on Edith Tudor-Hart along with private archive letters of Kim Philby as well as, in Charlotte’s words, “interviews, his autobiography, anecdotes, family folklore, and my imagination” to tell the story of the woman behind the Third Man.

As someone who enjoys spy fiction, especially the le Carre style that is grounded in history and tradecraft, this proved a fascinating novel.

With respect to the audiobook, I have enjoyed a few audiobooks narrated by British-Swedish actor, Sofia Engstrand. Her voice is very easy to listen to and I felt that she brought a sense of gravitas to her reading of the novel.

Overall, I found ‘Edith and Kim’ a well written compelling read. Following this positive experience I plan to explore more of Charlotte Philby’s writings.

This is a really engaging novel, partially based on real events. There's a really cool note at the beginning of the book, which explains the tapestry of files, correspondence, family folklore and fiction that makes Edith and Kim up. I've never read a spy novel about a female spy who has to maintain a domestic life, having a child, etc. while maintaining her spy work. The audiobook is really enjoyable and compels you through the story. Coming to this book from Le Carré's Smiley novels that interact with Kim Philby's real-life, I'd expected more of Kim from the blurb and marketing. That said, the most enjoyable thing about the book for me is how the story is punctuated with Philby’s letters to Edith from exile, unmasking their connection decades on.

Edith and Kim is an interesting and unique take on the Cambridge group and spy rings, including the infamous Philby, Burgess, McLean and Blunt. This narrative is fictionalised and it’s from the perspective of Edith, an Austrian Jew who was linked to numerous individuals subject to security services interest.

It’s a linear story which starts in Austria and we learn of her family life and father’s bookshop. As the years go by and during the build up to the Second World War, she becomes more directly involved in connecting possible recruits who, as Communists, are sympathetic to the Soviet regime. It’s very much her story, but built very solidly on events and documents, so I found it very well imagined and the central figure, Kim Philby, is really brought to life by his letters. I imagine that his granddaughter has had extensive access to numerous documents and a particular and very relevant insight into events.

I found it fascinating as it’s a real slice of social history. For many listeners, the Cold War was a memorable period and glasnost was a novelty. Given current events, it’s a pertinent read in terms of the reality of a Soviet threat. I enjoyed the story. It’s fairly slow, but engaging and I found the construction of fact and fiction well delivered. Not a huge fan of the narrator; I find it intensely irritating when sixth is pronounced as sick. However, the stars are for the writing, not narration.

A compelling and unique account and enormously enjoyable.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Edith and Kim brings to life the story of Edith Tudor-Heart, a woman who had a huge impact on the 20th century.

Edith Tudor-Heart was an activist and communist. A single mother in London and a photographer, taking photos for a cause, Edith is a woman of many layers. Her paths intertwine with notorious Cambridge Spy Kim Philby, not least she introduced him to his KGB handler but has, until now, been airbrushed out out history.

Charlotte Philby, granddaughter of Kim, makes deft work of this non-fiction account interweaved with fiction, to provide a slow burn narrative. It is interspersed with documents from the authorities who were keeping an eye on Edith and letters from Kim. It is an intriguing tale which is well brought to life, if not a little too slow in places. It is a unique take on the Cambridge Spies and one which I am grateful to have read.

I listened to the audiobook which was professionally read, but not hugely engaging. I suspect I would have enjoyed the book more.

Thanks to Harper Collins Audio and Netgalley for an advance copy.