“A remarkable, never disclosed story…”
Peter Hennessy
“A must-read book for those interested in a personal drama at the frontline of international relations”
Dr Calder Walton, author & historian
“A rare look behind the scenes of British intelligence… this story is not only well-told but also true”
Nicholas Reynolds, former CIA officer, New York Times bestselling author
“You have written an extraordinary tale, using Bell’s archive to masterly effect, weaving a tapestry of connection, class, politics, religion, and espionage that adds enormously to our understanding of the twentieth century. Your personal entry at the end is excellent and underlines your status in the subject. Really fascinating and told me a lot I did not know”
John Ranelagh, television executive and producer, historian, author of Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA
“For a rare look behind the scenes of British intelligence, read this intriguing and thoughtful book by Jimmy Burns. His subject is Walter Bell, who served in MI5 and MI6 from the 1930’s through the 1960s in key assignments. Since MI6 is the service whose offices traditionally do not write memoirs, we are often left to wonder what it was really like to be a British spy. Bell’s story, which can now be told thanks to a rich trove of papers that he left to his American widwo, is a good way to fill that gap. It is as if one of Le Carre’s characters revealed his innermost thoughts about his work – except that this stroy is not only well-told but also true.”
Reynolds, form CIA officer, NYT bestselling author of Ernest Hemingway: Write, Sailor, Soldier, Spy and author. Need to Know, World War II and the rise of American intelligence.
“Most of what has been written about spying in the last fifty years or so has been about traitors and treachery. So Jimmy Burn’s new book, A Faithful Spy, fills a huge void because it’s about a man who spent most of his working life in MI5 and MI6 without betraying anyone. What Walter Bell did do was hoard documents that others might have consigned to either the shredder or a secret archive, and from them has emerged this fascinating insight into the skills required to be loyal in organisations riddled with revalry and deception. Much of it is a revelatory insight into a world of privilege in which a well-connected you man like Bell could surf effortlessly between diplomacy, spying and high society. But there’s a sting in the talk too: by the end of his distinguished service (notably as Britain pulled out of India and Kenya) Bell say the values he’d fought to preserve breaking down around him. Discarded by the new establishment, the rebellious vicar’s son found solace in the Catholic Church, an ending his MI6 colleague Graham Greene might have understood.”
George Carey, British journalist & documentary maker, director of acclaimed investigations into the work of three notorious British spies, Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and George Blake.
“Jimmy Burns has written an excellent book about real life British spy. Walter Bell’s career as an MI6 and MI5 office spanned some of the most important geopolitical events in the twentieth century. The result is a must-read book for those interested in a personal drama at the frontline of international relations. Jimmy Burns lifts the lid on a true John le Carré character.”
Dr Calder Walton, author & historian.
The winner of the Longman-History Today Book Prize with his book Empire of Secrets.
Director of Research, Intelligence Project,
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
“It is very rare to have access to such extensive private papers of someone who worked in MI5 and MI6 and straddled and was deeply involved in the key geopolitical questions of teh 20th century – the rise of fascism; global war (vs Hiter).; Cold War (vs Russians); the winding up of the British Empire. The result is a remarkable never disclosed story which managed to combine the personal history of Walter Bell – a classic English gentleman but also a centre-left dissenter and Catholic – and weaves it into wider story of intelligence-based history thanks to Bell’s unique access to a small number of key figures who were at the heart of the spy world.”
Professor Peter Hennessy, leading UK government historian, author of The Secret State: Whitehall & The Cold War
