Exposure: A tense Cold War spy thriller from the author of The Lie

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By the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lie. Forbidden love, intimate betrayal and the devastating power of exposure drive Helen Dunmore's remarkable new novel. ______________________________ 'A deceptively simple masterpiece' Independent on Sunday 'Will haunt you for months, if not years' Guardian 'Outstanding ... if you only buy one book, make it this one' Good Housekeeping The Cold War is at its height, and a spy may be a friend or neighbour, colleague or lover. At the end of a suburban garden, in the pouring rain, a woman buries a briefcase deep in the earth. She believes that she is protecting her family. What she will learn is that no one is immune from betrayal or the devastating consequences of exposure.

Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, children's author and poet who will be remembered for the depth and breadth of her fiction. Rich and intricate, yet narrated with a deceptive simplicity that made all of her work accessible and heartfelt, her writing stood out for the fluidity and lyricism of her prose, and her extraordinary ability to capture the presence of the past. Her first novel, Zennor in Darkness, explored the events which led D. H. Lawrence to be expelled from Cornwall on suspicion of spying, and won the McKitterick Prize. Her third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996, and she went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller with The Siege, which was described by Antony Beevor as a 'world-class novel' and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and the Orange Prize. Published in 2010, her eleventh novel, The Betrayal, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and The Lie in 2014 was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the 2015 RSL Ondaatje Prize. Her final novel, Birdcage Walk, deals with legacy and recognition - what writers, especially women writers, can expect to leave behind them - and was described by the Observer as 'the finest novel Helen Dunmore has written'. Helen was known to be an inspirational and generous author, championing emerging voices and other established authors. She also gave a large amount of her time to supporting literature, independent bookshops all over the UK, and arts organisations across the world. She died in June 2017.

Helen Dunmore delivers a deceptively simple masterpiece, a new take on the lives of the men and -particularly - the women caught up in the cold war ... Exposure is magnificent -- Cole Moreton * Independent on Sunday * Dunmore packs an impressive amount on to a compact canvas. Full of convincing detail, the novel is as much about sexuality in the age of the Chatterley ban as about Whitehall skulduggery ... A dramatic mix of domesticity and derring-do ... Like many of the best spy novels, Exposure sets out to unsettle Britain's view of itself. * Sunday Telegraph * Under its smooth, naturalistic surfaces, Exposure has a tightly wrought plot gripping as any thriller. But it is the union of this plot with complex, challenging characters that makes the book such a surprising and fulfilling read...will haunt you for months, if not years. -- Kate Clanchy * Guardian * It is an intriguing set-up, and with Dunmore at its helm this tale of divided loyalties never lets up for a minute ... Dunmore is such a class act ... she sticks to the human essentials of her story, does not over-complicate things, and comes up trumps yet again. * Mail on Sunday * Hers are expert hands at turning 20th-century history into gripping fiction. * The Times * Exposure succeeds as a Cold War thriller as well as a psychological drama. It deals with some lurid events, but evokes the texture of time ... It offers in fact what Dunmore does best: a story of "desperate urgency, cloaked in the everyday" -- David Grylls * Sunday Times * One of our most outstanding writers, Helen Dunmore has drawn inspiration from the classic spy novel for her latest book ... While it has all the thrill and menace of a John Le Carre novel, Dunmore is more interested in the personal ... An atmospheric read full of vivid characters - if you only buy one book this month make it this one. * Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month * The danger with 'literary thrillers' is simple: the more literary a story is, the less thrilling it can be. There's a balance to be found, and Dunmore expertly weights both sides. She revels in layers of concealment. Beautiful poetic phrases, quite startling at times, enliven the eye and the mind. * Spectator * Helen Dunmore's subtle tale of espionage and fear has a refreshingly human scale... It is, in many ways, a romance where salvation comes through a late, unexpected and generous act of love. * Independent * Dunmore's treatment is distinctive. Her work as both a poet and a novelist, is characterised by its rich sensuality and the stark emotional truths at its core. This sensibility, along with the small domestic and personal details at which she excels, transcend genre... -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times * Exposure is the sort of winter read you hanker for...the period is so meticulously re-created that you almost hear the hiss of the gas streetlamps -- Melissa van der Klugt * The Times * An intricately observed and emotionally powerful Cold War thriller that combines subtlety and complexity to create a deeply satisfying and moving book -- Hannah Beckerman * Sunday Express, S Magazine * Dunmore is one of our best modern historical novelists and fans of her previous books will be eagerly awaiting this new one. [Exposure is] set during the Cold War and follows a woman determined to protect her family against the odds. * Metro * Dunmore is a very astute and skilful novelist... Exposure is as good as anything she has written; and that's very good indeed -- Alan Massie * The Scotsman * A novel about belonging, loneliness, love and the idea of home.... Exposure is a fine addition to the shelves of cold war literature -- Stephanie Merrit * Observer *