When Kim Philby fled to Moscow in 1963, he became the most notorious double agent in the history of espionage. Recruited into His Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service at the beginning of World War II, he rose to become the chief liaison officer with the CIA in Washington after the war. The exposure of a group of British double agents known as the Cambridge Five led to the revelation that Philby had begun spying for the Soviet Union years before he joined the British intelligence service. He eventually fled to Moscow and spent the last 25 years of his life in Russia.

In YOUNG PHILBY, Robert Littell recounts the little-known story of the spy’s early years, exploring the evolution of a mysteriously beguiling man who kept his masters on both sides of the Iron Curtain guessing about his ultimate loyalties. As each layer of ambiguity is exposed, the question surfaces: Who was the real Kim Philby?