Anne Sebba is one of Britain's most distinguished biographers. Formerly a Reuters correspondent based in London and Rome, she has written ten works of non-fiction, mostly about iconic women, and presented BBC radio documentaries. She is the author of the international bestsellers That Woman, an acclaimed biography of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, and Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died Under Nazi Occupation. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and lives in Richmond, Surrey.
A heart-piercingly brilliant book about a woman whose personal life
put her in the cross-hairs of history
*HADLEY FREEMAN*
Sebba gets her readers under the skin of both Ethel and her era so
effectively that this shameful saga had me alternately close to
tears and boiling with rage
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
An intelligent, sensitive and absorbing account of the short,
tragic life of a woman made remarkable by circumstance. [Ethel]
emerges as a stubbornly courageous figure, a woman who towers above
the parade of morally grubby, self-seeking and misogynistic figures
who conspired to destroy her
*GUARDIAN*
Totally riveting. I couldn't put it down
*VICTORIA HISLOP*
Powerful . . . her narrative clings to the reader like ivy . . . a
feat of empathy
*OBSERVER*
Masterful, original and painfully gripping, a historic miscarriage
of justice laid bare for our times
*PHILIPPE SANDS*
An engaging portrait of the woman at the centre of a shameful case
in US history
*Guardian*
An almost unbearably terrible story. I was completely held,
absorbed and involved with the story of Ethel's short life.
Brilliant ... could not be bettered
*CLAIRE TOMALIN*
Anne Sebba's riveting reappraisal not only includes previously
unseen letters and testimony but also manages to extract Ethel from
her marriage . . . this important and compelling book raises
resonant issues around what happens when collective fear leads to
hysteria and justice is wilfully ignored
*SPECTATOR*
Timely, superbly written and ultimately devastating, this is an
American tragedy indeed. I don't think I've ever read a book that
has moved me more
*ANTHONY HOROWITZ*
Absolutely gripping in so many ways; beautifully written and
superbly researched, a brilliant and a fresh take on a famous case.
This is simultaneously a Shakespearean tragedy of a woman and
family betrayal, a history of American Communism and Soviet
espionage in the USA, a very modern story with links to the 21st
century and Trump, a web of conspiracies, politics and witch-hunts,
and an investigation of treason and justice
*SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE*
A tragic and gripping tale, scrupulously documented, of political
chicanery, family betrayal and legal perfidy, Anne's Sebba's book
has unnerving echoes in the modern world
*CAROLINE MOOREHEAD*
This is a magnificent book, one with a hundred strands, woven
together with such skill that the only thought one can have at the
end of reading is: how did we never know the true story of this
remarkable woman?
*CARMEN CALLIL*
Was Ethel innocent? Anne Sebba, a masterful storyteller, peels away
the layers of historical and sometimes deliberate misinformation to
reveal the extraordinary truth. This book will haunt me for some
time
*ANITA ANAND*
A riveting account of "the Dreyfus case of Cold-War America". Ethel
Rosenberg's execution in 1953 united the Pope, Einstein and Picasso
in condemning her conviction as both a crime against humanity and
an assault on America's idea of itself. As Sebba shows to scathing
effect, with a message that will strike contemporary nerves, Ethel
placed truth above fake news, and being a good wife and mother
above being a good Communist. She had wanted to be an opera singer,
but here she sings out for all women who have been misunderstood
and wronged, and refuse to bow down
*NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE*
What a soaring story that challenges on so many levels! Anne Sebba
has an uncanny knack of upending historical orthodoxies in
compelling style. In this gripping account of Ethel Rosenberg's
life and death, she does so again. It's a shocking tale of
betrayal, naivety, misogyny and judicial failure. As a woman who
maybe loved too well, Ethel remains hard to like, but she's even
harder to condemn
*SONIA PURNELL*
Anne Sebba's Ethel Rosenberg is a tour de force, a tale of a woman
betrayed and executed. Sebba's painstaking research creates a new
picture of a woman caught up in accusations, an activist, a devoted
mother sent to the electric chair, a tale of idealism and
government's demand for a scapegoat, a moving, fascinating picture
of the first woman to be executed in the US for espionage. 'Always
remember we are innocent', she said as she died. For years, Ethel
Rosenberg has been attacked and castigated. Now Sebba's new access
to sources and research tells her real story - of a loyal wife, a
woman of principle who became public enemy no 1 for a terrified
political class and public - and asks us to make up our own
minds
*KATE WILLIAMS*
In Anne Sebba, Ethel Rosenberg has found the ideal biographer,
sympathetic without being blind to her faults and a sure
understanding of the period. Her portrayal is compelling . . . it
is impossible to read her account of Ethel's last days without
being moved
*LITERARY REVIEW*
Seventy years on Anne Sebba has given Ethel Rosenberg a towering
memorial
*THE CRITIC*
Anne Sebba's brilliant, unforgettable biography is the story of a
woman who fell victim to a fatal cocktail of prejudices -
anti-Communism, antisemitism and misogyny
*THE JEWISH CHRONICLE*
A compelling story of love, betrayal, misplaced idealism, and
brutal and legal political manoeuvring
*ECONOMIST*
Anne Sebba has written a powerful biography of a wife, mother and
woman, caught by a system determined to make an example of her and
betrayed by those she thought she could trust
*THE OLDIE*
An absorbing book
*THE TABLET*
Sebba's impassioned investigation into this shameful saga concludes
that this remarkable woman became a "human sacrifice" to Red Scare
hysteria and 1950s chauvinism
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
Riveting . . . A concise yet thorough account of a 1953 miscarriage
of justice with alarming relevance today
*Kirkus*
This shattering story of a courageous woman swept up in one of
America's greatest miscarriages of justice is enthralling and
deeply moving. With her usual brilliance, Anne Sebba has brought to
light the real person buried under decades of propaganda and has
finally succeeded in humanising Ethel Rosenberg. This book is
hugely relevant today, it shows us the perils of allowing ideology
and hysteria to take precedence over justice. This is a magnificent
work, meticulously researched and skilfully crafted
*ARIANA NEUMANN, author of New York Times bestseller 'When Time
Stopped'*
A gripping tale of betrayal, deceit and judicial incompetence
*BBC History Magazine*
Sebba's painstaking research pulls back the veil of historic
projections
*Financial Times*
Sebba gets her readers under the skin of both Ethel and her era so
effectively that this shameful saga had me alternately close to
tears and boiling with rage
*Daily Telegraph*
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