"This is the extraordinary tale of how one family survived the Russian Revolution, the civil war, the rise of Hitler, the Stalinist Terror and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union." "There have been many tantalizing rumours about Olga Chekhova, the niece of Anton Chekhov. She left Russia for Germany and became a film star honoured by the Nazis yet secretly worked for Soviet intelligence. Some of her closest relatives joined her in Berlin; the rest remained in Moscow." "Young and beautiful yet with nothing of value but a smuggled diamond ring, Olga Chekhova left Moscow in 1920 to escape starvation and degradation. In Berlin, by making the most of her Chekhov name, she obtained a part in a silent movie. Success followed quickly and she eventually became Hitler's favourite film star." "Olga's brother, Lev Knipper, was a composer who had fought with the White Army during the civil war. When he returned to Russia in 1921 he was forced to work for Soviet intelligence. His controllers sent him abroad to spy on Russian emigres and, in Germany, Lev recruited his sister as a 'sleeper'. Later, at the height of the war, plans were made for the two of them to launch a suicidal attack right at the heart of the Nazi regime." "In putting together this dramatic story, Antony Beevor shows how people lived under the terrible pressures of a totalitarian age. It reveals a confusion of courage, idealism, fear, self-sacrifice, opportunism and betrayal. The astonishing part of the epic tale is that both Olga and Lev survived the most murderous era know in history. What they had to do to stay alive may have left deep but hidden scars."--BOOK JACKET.