Stalin's Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire

by Antonia Senior

The riveting story of the ring of spies known as the Cambridge Five, who infiltrated the highest levels of the British establishment and helped Stalin cement a half century of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe

The Cambridge Five was the most infamous spy ring in history. Its members--Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, and John Cairncross--met at university, amid the left-wing ferment overtaking British campuses between the World Wars. The Five were soon recruited by Soviet agents and pledged allegiance to Stalin, and each quickly took up a place in the British government. From the 1930s, they funneled top-secret intelligence to the USSR, some so sensitive that their Soviet handlers feared a double cross. Their unmasking in 1951 rocked Britain, helping to end a chummy, boys' club stranglehold on the country's institutions of power. But, as Antonia Senior shows, the Five's treachery had much graver and more devastating consequences across the world. Their work invaluably aided Stalin as he sought to build a Red Empire, condemning millions across Eastern Europe to decades of repression, violence, and death.

Rife with code names, smuggled documents, clandestine rendezvous, and copious amounts of gin, Stalin's Apostles wields impeccable research and storytelling and all the thrilling details and high tragedy of a classic spy thriller.

480 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 26, 2026

About the author

Antonia Senior is a writer and journalist. After many years at The Times, she is now freelance. She writes columns, book reviews and features for various national publications, including The Times, the Guardian and the Financial Times. Antonia lives in London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[sarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

well researched, lucidly written, excellently structured. this was an extremely informative book peppered with just the right amount of personal anecdotes and impressions to humanize history even as it deals with the unsavoriest of characters. espionage is not dashing romance and intrigue; it has real consequences for real people and senior does not shy away from bringing all the pigeons home to roost. the specifics of balkan and baltic resistance against the soviets, moreover, are lesser-known in the tales of the first half of the 20th century, so i definitely appreciated learning more about that as well.

thanks to netgalley and publicaffairs for the e-arc!

[Matt Galyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a remarkable book. I was unfamiliar with the Cambridge 5, though I was certainly aware that the Soviets had spies in both the UK and the US during the Cold War era. To read about the depths of the betrayals carried out by Stalin’s five and the way in which the betrayals were carried out is part infuriating and part mystifying. This book has certainly filled in some gaps in my own thinking on the Cold War and will inform my own teaching on the subject moving forward. This book is an easy 5 stars from me. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has interest in the Cold War, spy thrillers, and general 20th century history.