A VIVID AND HIGHLY ORIGINAL NOVEL ABOUT AN EXTRAORDINARY COLD WAR SPY

This inventive historical novel gives a gripping account of real Cold War espionage from a new perspective

December, 1963. It’s a decade since the death of Stalin and the world is on the brink of a nuclear war. In Sofia’s Great Ceremonial Hall of the People an unassuming Communist and UN diplomat turned Cold War spy stands on trial for treason and espionage. He is accused of betraying the Bulgarian people by selling secrets to the CIA. With his fate in the balance, facing death by firing squad, he has been offered a way out: make a full confession and his life will be spared. But has he been tricked? And how strong is the case against him?

The Unbeliever is a panorama of Cold War paranoia and intrigue spanning four decades, told through the life of one extraordinary – and real – spy. A story of love, loyalty, ambition and betrayal, it is a gripping and highly original debut novel by a journalist who was born behind the Iron Curtain.

Oggy Boytchev escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in 1986. Soon after, he joined the BBC in London where he spent the next twenty-five years covering international conflicts. Latterly he became John Simpson’s producer and accompanied him on dangerous undercover assignments around the world. His memoir Simpson & I (Quartet, 2014) chronicles this time. The Unbeliever is his first novel. He lives in Belsize Park, London.