Agent Zigzag

Archival Summary & Scope

Ben Macintyre's *Agent Zigzag*, a New York Times Editors' Choice and "One of the Best Books of the Year" for multiple outlets, is lauded as a "rollicking, spellbinding" blend of John le Carré's espionage and Evelyn Waugh's farce (The New York Times). Called a "wildly improbable but entirely true . . . cinematic spy thriller" (Entertainment Weekly), this gripping true story unearths the astonishing life of Eddie Chapman. A charming criminal and philanderer, Chapman became Britain's most audacious double agent. In 1941, trained as a German spy and parachuted into Britain with orders to sabotage, he instead contacted MI5, working for four perilous years as a lone British operative deep within the German Secret Service. Based on recently declassified files, *Agent Zigzag* thrillingly explores the blurred lines of loyalty, treachery, and identity for the ultimate World War II spy.