Exposure - by Helen Dunmore

About the Book

Originally published: London: Hutchinson, 2016.

Book Synopsis

"Dunmore so cleverly interweaves each of the character's stories that as the tale unfolds it has the chilling ring of absolute authenticity. It's gripping and page turning and all those things you expect in a Spy Drama--but always laced with her trademark humanity. I was totally caught up in the story which is paced perfectly. Her best book yet."--Mavis Cheek

Virtuoso storyteller Helen Dunmore returns with a thrilling Cold War espionage tale in which the closest ties are called into question and nobody is quite who they seem.

It's London, 1960. The Cold War is at its height, and a spy may be a friend or neighbor, colleague or lover. Two colleagues, Giles Holloway and Simon Callington, face a terrible dilemma over a missing top-secret file. At the end of a suburban garden, in the pouring rain, Simon's wife, Lily, buries a briefcase containing the file deep in the earth. She believes that in doing so she is protecting her family. What she will learn is that no one is immune from betrayal or the devastating consequences of exposure.

Review Quotes

"Dunmore has always been fantastic on the complexity of people's motivations and the secret reasons they act as they do. This book is no exception . . . This may be an unconventional thriller, but it's still a page turner for that . . . As the narrative unfolds we realize that this is the novel's beating heart: It's as much a surprising love story as it is a tale of spies." --Kate Hamer, New York Times Book Review

"Much like a slick, shape-shifting spook, Exposure is many things at once--an espionage thriller, a forbidden-love story, an immigrant's tale--and it assumes these varied identities with confidence . . . [it is] a novel you won't be able to shake." --Entertainment Weekly

"Dunmore's strategy, placing a triangle of past and present loves within a spy novel, yields an unexpected dividend. Even the most ordinary elements of life--the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her children, meeting someone special, what remains unsaid within a marriage--become viscerally exciting." --New Yorker

"[Exposure] takes the form of a spy novel but one that has been quietly and ingeniously deepened well beyond the ambitions of genre . . . [it] is one of those books that you read with your heart in your mouth, your mind fully engaged, and with a sense of desolation as you note the dwindling number of pages left before it comes to an end." --Chicago Tribune

"[Dunmore has] created an unforgettable family whose ties are strong enough to endure what might have defeated most of us. Whose members grow and change with a kind of fortitude rarely depicted in the modern novel. There are resemblances to Virginia Woolf not only in the terrific prose but also in Helen Dunmore's awareness that much of family life lies in what is not said as much as in what is said . . . Dunmore moves from present to past with uncommon ease; she also moves from one point of view to another with elegance and authority, proving that there are no rules in writing fiction, only what you can do convincingly. And we are absolutely convinced by this story . . . a luminous story of courage and forgiveness." --Arts Fuse

"Beautifully crafted . . . a very enjoyable read." --New York Journal of Books

"This book is a triumph--a marvelous piece of seamless storytelling. The characters are so persuasive, as is the period flavor, while the plot is masterly--I kept thinking I could see where we were going next, and then we didn't. This is an imaginative new take on the Cold War thriller, so convincingly told and peopled that you surface from it surprised to be back in 2015." --Penelope Lively

"Dunmore so cleverly interweaves each of the character's stories that as the tale unfolds it has the chilling ring of absolute authenticity. It's gripping and page turning and all those things you expect in a Spy Drama--but always laced with her trademark humanity. I was totally caught up in the story which is paced perfectly. Her best book yet." --Mavis Cheek

About the Author

Helen Dunmore is the author of twelve books, including The Lie, The Greatcoat; The Betrayal, a New York Times Editors' Choice; The Siege, a bestseller and finalist for the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; and A Spell of Winter, winner of the Orange Prize.