A Very Dangerous Woman: The Lives, Loves and Lies of Russia's Most Seductive Spy - Hardcover

Deborah McDonald is the author of Clara Collet 1860-1948: An Educated Working Woman and The Prince, His Tutor and the Ripper: The Evidence Linking James Kenneth Stephen to the Whitechapel Murders. She lives on the Isle of Wight.

Jeremy Dronfield is a multifaceted writer, biographer and novelist. His books include the bestselling novel The Locust Farm, Resurrecting Salvador, Burning Blue and the critically acclaimed The Alchemist’s Apprentice. He is also co-author of several historical biographies, including a life of Dr James Barry, the 19th-century surgeon who was discovered to be a woman in disguise.

"McDonald and Dronfield convincingly capture Moura's perilous sensuality."
The Wall Street Journal

"Temptress, seductress, sexploiter, call her what you will, Moura had espionage running through her veins, and all is revealed in this fascinating account of her mysterious life."
Nigel West, author of Operation Garbo

"A thrilling new biography of baroness and double agent Moura Budberg . Brave and multi-faceted, a mosaic monument to a mistress of deceit."
Russia Beyond the Headlines

"An astoundingly unbelievable life well retold in this gripping new biography. Well written, too. The book’s account of the Lockhart Affair is particularly fascinating, recreating the paranoid, anti-Western world that was Soviet Russia in the late 19-teens and early 1920s."
Russian Life

"The authors draw on diaries, correspondence, and newly released files to create a powerful study that attracts sympathy toward their subject. It also produces a great snapshot of life in Russia during the collapse of the czarist regime through the early part of the Joseph Stalin era. Recommended for fans of espionage and strong-willed women as well as biography connoisseurs."
Library Journal

"A fast-paced story of European intrigue, featuring an enigmatic, strong-willed woman who married twice and whose lovers included Alexander Kerensky, Maxim Gorky, and H.G. Wells.... Moura’s survival story is fascinating."
Publishers Weekly

"An attempt to introduce the world to a female spy far more successful than Mata Hari and just as captivating.... Intriguing."
Kirkus Reviews

"A Very Dangerous Woman pulls together all the chimerical threads of Moura’s life into a well-written and carefully annotated biography that often reads like a romantic thriller with photos of all the key real-life characters. I’d recommend it to anyone, especially those interested in the Russian Revolution, its soiled aftermath, or the elusive Moura.”
Historical Novels Review

"An absorbing and colourful account of the individuals and events that changed the world in the first half of the twentieth century."
Susan Ottaway, author Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice: The True Story of WWII Special Agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne