2913 February 2021 THE WEEKARTSGeorgeBlake,thesubjectofThe
HappyTraitor,wasthe“leastknown
butthemostdamagingofalltheBritish
doubleagents”,saidBenMacintyrein
TheTimes.Inthe 19 50sandearly
1960 s,he“betrayedmoreagentstothe
SovietUnion”thanalltheCambridge
spiescombined.Unmaskedin 1961 ,he
wassentencedto4 2 yearsinprison–thenthelongestsentence
everhandedoutinBritain.In 1966 ,heescapedfromWormwood
ScrubsandfledtoMoscow,wherehediedlastmonthattheage
of98.So“remarkable”washislifethatAlfredHitchcockplanned
tomakeafilmaboutit–butdiedbeforehegotthechance.Now
SimonKuper’s“comprehensiveandinsightfulbiography”,
embargoeduntilBlake’sdeath,fleshesoutthis“shadowyfigure”.
IftheCambridgespies were Establishmenttypes,Blakewas
definitelyanoutsider,saidOwenMatthewsin TheSpectator.He
wasborninRotterdamin 1922 to aDutchmotherandaJewish
father, and brieflyservedwiththeDutch Resistancebefore
escapingto Englandin 194 3. RecruitedbyMI6,he wasposted
to Korea –andwascapturedbyNorth Koreancommunistsafter
warbrokeout.Duringa“hellishtwo-
yearinternment”,hewasgivenDas
KapitalandotherMarxisttomesto
read–andreturnedtoEnglanda
committedcommunist.Astonishingly,
MI6returnedBlaketohisespionage
duties,withoutexaminingthe
possibilitythathehadbeenturned,said
MaxHastingsinTheSundayTimes.As
aresult,hesuppliedtheKGBwith
informationthatnotonly“doomed
scoresofWesternagentsintheEast”,
butalsoexposedthespytunneldug
bytheCIAunderEastBerlin.Although
theRussianswereontothisaudacious
projectfromthestart,theyletitoperate
for 11 monthsinthemid-1950s
becausetheywantedtoprotectBlake,theirmostvaluablemole.
Onlyin 196 1washetrappedbycircumstantialevidence.
IfBlake’sbetrayalswereseriousstuff,hisescapefromprison
waspure“Ealingcomedy”,saidNoelMalcolminTheDaily
Telegraph.Hejumpedoverawallusingaropeladderthrown
bya“wild”Irishex-con,andwassmuggledtotheIronCurt ain
in acampervandrivenbytwo“peace activists”.InMoscow,
he settledintoaquietlifeas anintelligenceanalyst,joiningKim
Philbyon“jollysocialoccasions”.Kuperissometimesoverly
kindtoBlake:he acceptshisclaim that heacted“on groundsof
principlealone”.Still,he has dugoutsomefascinatingmaterial–
and does atleast acknowledgethatsome40agents “are thought
to have lost their lives because of Blake’s self-gratifying treachery”.The Happy Traitor
by Simon Kuper
Profile 288pp £14.99
The Week bookshop£11.99
Review of reviews: BooksBookoftheweekYou“cannotsecond-guess”Francis Spufford,
saidKateKellaway inTheObserver.After
makinghis nameas an“elegantwriterof non-
fiction”,in hisearly50s hepublishedhis first
novel,GoldenHill–awork of“exuberant
virtuosity”aboutanEnglishchancerin18th
century Manhattan.Fiveyearslater,hehas
producedanother “brilliant”workof fiction –and onethat, ifanything,is
“evenbolder”.LightPerpetualbegins inNovember 1944,with aV2bomb
fallin gonasouth London branch ofWoolworths, said ClaireAllfreein the
London Evening Standard.This eventwas real –itkilled168 people–but in a
“gloriousact ofliterary resurrection”,Spufford imaginesfive ofthechild victims
survivingand goingontoleadfull lives. Over 65years, he tracks his“chosen
five”–Alec, Jo ,Vernon, Benand Valerie–at15-year intervals,“droppingin
on them at home,atwork, with lovers andwithchild ren”.
NoneofSpufford’s characters provetobeexceptional,said Lucasta Miller
in The Spectator. Instead, they’re “transfigured by theirvery ordinariness”.
One becomesatypesetter at The Times;anothertries tomake it big asafolk
singer,butisheld backby her lack of confidence. Perhaps most moving of all
is the story of Ben, whom we first see“hoisted on tohisfather’sshouldersat a
Millwall game”, andwhom we next meet“inapsychiatric hospital, dosedup
on Largactil”,said Alex Preston in theFinancialTimes. As he slowlyrecovers,
“thereader cheers him all the way”. In “beautifully accurate”, unshowyprose,
Spufford wrings extraordinary “emotion anddrama” from the everyday
experiences ofhisprotagonists.
Novel ofthe week
Light Perpetual
by Francis Spufford
Faber&Faber 336pp £16.99
The Week bookshop£13.99
Can’t Even
by Anne Helen Petersen
Chatto&Windus 304pp £14.99
The Week bookshop£11.99Millennialsare often characterised as fickle,lazy
andentitled, said Sian Cain inTheGuardian.
ButinCan’t Even,the US journalistand
academic Anne Helen Petersensuggests that
they are in fact victims of “burnout”.Thisbook,
expanded fromaBuzzFeedessay thatwent viral
in 2019, suggests that millennials (those born
between1981 and 1996) feel overworkedand
undervalued, “overstimulated” but “alienated”
–and permanent ly anxious, as the prospect of
solid jobs andof ot hersocialprot ecti onsenjoyed
by previous generationsseemstorecede.
For Petersen, “burnout”doesn’tsignify total
exhaustion so much asa“stateof emotional
paralysis” brought onby feeling overburdened,
said Eleanor Halls in TheDailyTelegraph.The
problem, shesuggests, lies notonlyineconomic
forces, but also inthepushy parenting favoured
from the 1980son –arecipeforendlessanxiety.
Withits“moments of self-pity andnihilism”,
thi sbook is sureto“irritat eolder readers”, said
Megan Agnew in The SundayTimes. However,
as amillennial,Ifound ita“searing” analysis
of whysomany in mygenera tionconstantly
feel that they are falling short.To order these titles or anyother book in print, visit
theweekbookshop.co.ukor speaktoabookseller on 02 0-3176 3835
Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm andSunday 10am-4pmRescuers ataV2bomb site