The explosive debut thriller for fans of Robert Harris and Charles Cumming

The Partisan

'Remarkedly assured debut ... the advent of a real talent...One to watch' Sunday Times 
'Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre' Lee Child 
________________________ 
 
It is the summer of 1961 and the brutal Cold War between East and West is becoming ever more perilous. 
 
Two young prodigies from either side of the Iron Curtain, Yulia and Michael, meet at a chess tournament in London. They don't know it, but they are about to compete in the deadliest game ever played. 
 
Shadowing them is Greta, a ruthless resistance fighter who grew up the hard way in the forests of Lithuania, but who is now hunting down some of the most dangerous men in the world. 
 
Men who are also on the radar of Vassily, perhaps the Soviet Union's greatest spymaster. A man of cunning and influence, Vassily was Yulia's minder during her visit to the West, but even he could not foresee the consequences of her meeting Michael. 
 
When the world is accelerating towards an inevitable and catastrophic conflict, what can just four people do to prevent it? 
 
Epic in scope, The Partisan is a thrill ride like no other, taking you from the hallowed halls of Cambridge to the grimy depths of the Moscow underworld, from 1960s London to the Eastern Front in the Second World War.

Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre

A taut, sophisticated, and hugely satisfying thriller. With a multi-layered and ingenious plot, this is a superb and immensely enjoyable read from an excitingly fresh and original new voice. Wartime resistance, Cold War espionage, a world on the cusp of nuclear catastrophe and a cast of deftly drawn and believable characters combine to make this a hugely compelling, unputdownable and fast-paced read that takes the reader on a journey from the forests of Lithuania, to the Kremlin and back streets of Moscow, to the jazz bars of early 1960s London and the colleges of Cambridge to the bleak realities of the GDR and post-war Vienna.

Patrick Worrall has produced a constantly fascinating and emotionally authentic thriller that moves effortlessly and atmospherically from one decade to another and one location to another as the story's devious secrets are revealed.

Fast-paced, intriguing and deeply atmospheric. The Kremlin sequences in particular are mighty evocative.

A dazzlingly confident debut...Whether he's evoking the Spanish Civil War, the scheming and counter-scheming in Khrushchev's Kremlin or two brainy teenagers falling in love, Worrall rises impressively to every challenge

'Patrick Worrall's remarkedly assured debut, The Partisan, marks the advent of a real talent...What truly impresses is the way he confidently handles a vast and immersive canvas...One to watch'

It's a masterly tale that is also impressive for being Worrall's debut

If you're a fan of Len Deighton and John le Carre then this nerve-jangling thriller is for you...The characters are skilfully drawn and complex threads masterfully combined into a gripping read

Impressive ... The scene-setting is finely detailed and evocative, the characters skilfully drawn

Patrick Worrall was educated at a comprehensive school in Worcestershire and King’s College, Cambridge. He has worked as a teacher in eastern Europe and Asia, a newspaper journalist, a court reporter at the Old Bailey, and the head of the Channel 4 News FactCheck blog. His first novel, The Partisan, was inspired by a World War Two photograph of three young female freedom fighters he saw in a museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Exile is his second novel.

Patrick Worrall

Worrall wonderfully conjures the maelstrom of postwar France... a dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal

In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist

A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment

The advent of a real talent...One to watch.

Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre.

A superb and immensely enjoyable read from an excitingly fresh and original new voice.

'An espionage story of high literary calibre' Strong Words Magazine 
'A dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal' Guardian 
'A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment’ Mail on Sunday 
'In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist' Sunday Times 
________________ 
 
It's 1951 and the servants of Stalin are closing in on the occupied nations of eastern Europe. As the Red Army tightens the net, Greta - best and bravest of freedom fighters - is told to escape to the West and undertake a dangerous mission. 
 
Greta's task is to find a missing girl: the precious daughter of a partisan general who was sent into exile in the final days of the war. 
 
But the so-called Free World is no place for vulnerable young refugees. Europe is in ruins, the old Empires are dying, and a spectacular cast of spivs, gangsters and rival intelligence agencies are fighting over the scraps. 
 
Crossing the Iron Curtain will require nerves of steel as Greta faces down the French mob, ex-Nazis, Soviet spies, all the glamour and temptation of Paris and ultimately, her own demons. 
 
The Exile is a white-knuckle ride into the black heart of postwar Europe - a terrifying world in which allies and enemies are impossible to tell apart. 
________ 
 
Praise for The Partisan 
 
'Fast-paced, intriguing and deeply atmospheric' Tom Bradby 
'Remarkedly assured debut ... the advent of a real talent...One to watch' Sunday Times 
'Impressive ... The scene-setting is finely detailed and evocative, the characters skilfully drawn' Financial Times 
'Immersive, intriguing, and intelligent - incredibly impressive, up there with the best in the genre' Lee Child 
 
 
Patrick Worrall, The Bookseller bestseller, July 2023

Patrick Worrall

Praise for The Exile

Worrall wonderfully conjures the maelstrom of postwar France... a dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal

In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist

A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment

Worrall wonderfully conjures the maelstrom of postwar France... a dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal

In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist

A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment

Worrall wonderfully conjures the maelstrom of postwar France... a dramatic and thoroughly immersive account of loyalty, ideology and betrayal

In remarkably granular detail, Worrall conjures up a Fifties Paris where historical and fictional characters coexist

A terrific new voice in spy fiction…A complex, action packed portrait of a continent in ferment

Books by Patrick Worrall

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