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Papa Spy: Love, Faith, and Betrayal in Wartime Spain
by
Jimmy Burns
A true story of espionage with a plot worthy of John le Carré. With the declaration of war in 1939, dashing young publisher, Tom Burns, left his business for the Ministry of Information, the propaganda arm of the British secret services, and found himself in Madrid as press attaché at the British embassy. Spurred on by his deep love of Spain, he threw himself into the...more
Hardcover, 416 pages
Published
December 22nd 2009
by Walker & Company
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I was surprised to find that so many government officials in Britain in the second world war had so much time to spend on matters of little importance. There was much back and forth over the whether or not letting in Spanish journalists (at a time when the dictator Franco ruled Spain with a somewhat Nazi-like ideology) visit Britain would be allowing spies into Britain or if it was worth it to improve relations and keep Spain from becoming a full military ally of Germany. I don't think thes
...more
Chris
rated it
This isn't normally the type of book I would buy in hardcover. I won it as a First Reads Giveaway.
Before I start the review, I have to say something.
Lesile Howard was a ladies' man?!?!?!?
Sorry. I understand the attraction to Cary Grant, to Omar Shariff (I really understand Shariff), but I never understood Lesile Howard. Couldn't figure out what Scarlet O'Hara saw in him, at least in the movie. And he also played a going bald Romeo. I swear. Okay, Ju...more
Before I start the review, I have to say something.
Lesile Howard was a ladies' man?!?!?!?
Sorry. I understand the attraction to Cary Grant, to Omar Shariff (I really understand Shariff), but I never understood Lesile Howard. Couldn't figure out what Scarlet O'Hara saw in him, at least in the movie. And he also played a going bald Romeo. I swear. Okay, Ju...more
This book was disappointing. While the premise sounds exciting, spies in Spain during World War II, the style in which it was written causes the book to fall flat.
Written by Jimmy Burns, an accomplished journalist and author of other books, it is supposed to tell the tale of his late father. The book is chalk full of anecdotes and characters surrounding his father, too full in fact. The book jumps from character to character so much that the central theme, the story of Tom ...more
Written by Jimmy Burns, an accomplished journalist and author of other books, it is supposed to tell the tale of his late father. The book is chalk full of anecdotes and characters surrounding his father, too full in fact. The book jumps from character to character so much that the central theme, the story of Tom ...more
This is a book about Spain during World War II with the main focus being Tom Burns, a member of the British Embassy in Madrid responsible for propaganda. As I had previously known very little about the Spanish Civil War and Spain's role during WWII, I learned a tremendous amount from this book. Also really interesting in this book is the network of British, German, and Russian spies. It is amazing the disorganization and backstabbing involved in and between the intelligence groups and the com...more
When I noticed this book up for goodreads, I thought I’d take a chance since of all the wars; WWII is the one that holds my interest. I knew going into this book it was going to be something completely different than what I usually read. As I read I took notes and took my time.
At first I was discouraged; the reason being is I felt the sudden introduction of people was a bit overwhelming. But as I read on, most everything fell in place. I have to commend Jimmy Burns on his researc...more
At first I was discouraged; the reason being is I felt the sudden introduction of people was a bit overwhelming. But as I read on, most everything fell in place. I have to commend Jimmy Burns on his researc...more
For several weeks now I have picked up this book and read a few pages at a time. The book is about a son's discovery of his father's secret life. I have found it so difficult to progress because it gets bogged down with too much information. I am not familiar with many of the characters or events that the author is describing but I think he believes I am, or should be. I feel like the introduction is going on forever. Every publishing house is mentioned, so many different persons are mentioned, ...more
I enjoyed this quite a bit, didn’t know a lot about the efforts to keep Spain out of the war and loved the bits about Philby’s attempt to remove Burns. However, the author padded the story out far too much (albeit with some interesting, but unnecessary, facts), and what I really disliked in the book was the increasingly moral tone he took. Comments about camps being like Guantanamo Bay for instance were unnecessary, patronising and glaringly obvious. He viewed WWII through today’s moral lens. ...more
Papa Spy covers an aspect of WWII not well know to me and does so in detail. I had difficulty, however, absorbing the information, as the book veers between a biography of Burns' father Tom and a history of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's Spain during WWII. In fairness to the author, I might be satisfied only if William Shirer reprised his Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, covering Spain with the information now available to historians.
This book is part memoir of the writer's father who was a press attache for the British Embassy to Madrid during WWII, and part general history of why British interests (including crossing and double-crossing spy craft) in keeping Spain neutral, even if that meant supporting Franco.
Very detailed, well-researched book. Makes a fantastic reference piece and you see a side of history not often discussed (Spain during WWII). Although it is a personal side of the war, it was a bit difficult to get through because of the detail involved. The author did an incredible amount of research and left nothing out of this time period of his father's life. It would make a fabulous movie, but something a non-history buff might have a little difficulty reading.
Received Papa Spy today from First Reads. I am very interested to read it, since the Spanish Civil War and subsequently Spain's (non)involvement in WWII were major focuses (for a while) in my studies at university. Do I have any chance of reading this before the Big Move? None at all, or it would be "currently reading" for sure.
I think that this is probably a good book if you have enough history under your belt to place it within a frame of reference. As it was, the web of who-knows-who and is doing what within the Catholic movement around the time of WWII didn't make much of an impact on me. I passed it on to a family member.
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From the author's website:
Jimmy Burns was born in Madrid in 1953. His father the late Tom Burns met his mother Mabel Maranon while working in the British embassy in Madrid during the Second World War. Jimmy contributes Spanish language media outlets and publishes his books in Spanish translation as Jimmy Burns Maranon. His childhood was spent straddling cultures -Britain, Castille, and...more
More about Jimmy Burns...
Jimmy Burns was born in Madrid in 1953. His father the late Tom Burns met his mother Mabel Maranon while working in the British embassy in Madrid during the Second World War. Jimmy contributes Spanish language media outlets and publishes his books in Spanish translation as Jimmy Burns Maranon. His childhood was spent straddling cultures -Britain, Castille, and...more
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