Charlotte Philby - A Double Life

The Borough Press

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

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HarperCollins Publishers

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Dublin 4, Ireland

Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2020

Copyright © Charlotte Philby 2020

Maura Dooley, Mirror , from Sound Barrier: Poems 1982-2002 (Bloodaxe Books, 2002). Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books.

www.bloodaxebooks.com

Charlotte Philby asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008365219

Ebook Edition © 2020 ISBN: 9780008365196

Version: 2021-02-25

‘Superbly crafted with heart-stopping twists and chills galore. A new star has arrived in the thriller firmament’

Thriller of the Year, THE TIMES

‘A seriously stylish, hugely compelling mystery: Charlotte Philby redefines a male-dominated genre with her brilliantly complex female characters. I was utterly gripped’

LUCY FOLEY

‘I fell into the vivid, frightening world Charlotte Philby creates so skilfully and didn’t resurface until long after I’d turned the last page. Her characters are so real you genuinely fret over their safety in their jobs and personal lives. Everything about this book feels as plausible as if it might happen tomorrow. She is a hugely original and talented writer’

JANE CASEY

‘ A Double Life confirms Charlotte Philby as the master of a sub-genre she basically invented, dealing in the dangerous area where working motherhood and international espionage collide. Heart-breaking, gripping and always beautifully written, I can’t wait to see what she does next’

ERIN KELLY

‘Brilliantly executed and tense’

SUNDAY TIMES

‘Terribly compelling … persuasive and absorbing’

OBSERVER

‘Philby is creating her own niche of beautifully observed, fast-paced, multi-layered novels … In Gabriela and Isobel, Philby develops two fascinating characters who have to face challenges that women the world over will recognise, but rarely get to read about on the page. A Double Life is a wonderful novel’

HOLLY WATT

‘A pacy, gripping read that kept us on the edge of our seats’

INDEPENDENT

‘I like a novel where the intrepid investigative journalist and the Foreign Office rising star are both women. And where two separate stories eventually converge around a conspiracy that touches the very top of the establishment and destroys everything’

EVENING STANDARD

‘Dark and compelling’

BELLA

‘As innovative a spy novel as we might expect from the granddaughter of Kim Philby … A gripping account of two complex lives’

IRISH TIMES

For Jesse

‘The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men’

Henry David Thoreau

Mirror

In my mother’s house

is the friendly mirror,

the only glass in which I look

and think I see myself,

think, yes, that’s what

I think I’m like,

that’s who I am. The only

glass in which I look and smile.

Just as this baby smiles

at the baby who always

smiles at her, the one in

her mother’s arms, the mother

who looks like me, who

smiles at herself in her

mother’s mirror, the friendly

mirror in her mother’s house.

But if I move to one side

we vanish, the woman I thought

was me, the baby making friends

with herself, we move to one side

and the mirror holds no future, no past,

in its liquid frame, only the corner

of an open window, a bee visiting

the ready flowers of summer.

Maura Dooley

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for A Double Life

Dedication

Epigraph

Prologue

Chapter 1: Gabriela

Chapter 2: Gabriela

Chapter 3: Isobel

Chapter 4: Gabriela

Chapter 5: Gabriela

Chapter 6: Isobel

Chapter 7: Gabriela

Chapter 8: Gabriela

Chapter 9: Gabriela

Chapter 10: Isobel

Chapter 11: Gabriela

Chapter 12: Isobel

Chapter 13: Gabriela

Chapter 14: Gabriela

Chapter 15: Gabriela

Chapter 16: Isobel

Chapter 17: Gabriela

Chapter 18: Isobel

Chapter 19: Gabriela

Chapter 20: Gabriela

Chapter 21: Isobel

Chapter 22: Gabriela

Chapter 23: Isobel

Chapter 24: Gabriela

Chapter 25: Isobel

Chapter 26: Gabriela

Chapter 27: Gabriela

Chapter 28: Gabriela

Chapter 29: Isobel

Chapter 30: Gabriela

Chapter 31: Gabriela

Chapter 32: Gabriela

Chapter 33: Isobel

Chapter 34: Gabriela

Chapter 35: Isobel

Chapter 36: Gabriela

Chapter 37: Gabriela

Chapter 38: Isobel

Chapter 39: Gabriela

Chapter 40: Isobel

Chapter 41: Gabriela

Chapter 42: Isobel

Chapter 43: Gabriela

Chapter 44: Isobel

Chapter 45: Gabriela

Chapter 46: Isobel

Chapter 47: Gabriela

Chapter 48: Gabriela

Chapter 49: Isobel

Chapter 50: Gabriela

Chapter 51: Gabriela

Chapter 52: Isobel

Chapter 53: Gabriela

Chapter 54: Gabriela

Chapter 55: Isobel

Chapter 56: Gabriela

Chapter 57: Gabriela

Chapter 58: Isobel

Chapter 59: Gabriela

Chapter 60: Gabriela

Chapter 61: Isobel

Chapter 62: Gabriela