James Naughtie: When Knowledge Could Be Deadly

Captioned

James Naughtie has witnessed much political skulduggery as a special correspondent for BBC News, and he’s put this knowledge to use in his gripping spy thriller series. Today, Naughtie introduces The Spy Across the Water: the third outing for the Flemyng brothers, bound together through espionage and embroiled in the Cold War. Hear Naughtie discuss this fascinating brainteaser which spans the streets of Washington DC and the Scottish Highlands. In conversation with Ruth Wishart.

Book Festival News

Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024 Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024
Friday 13 December

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

David Farrier & Karine Polwart: Different Futures are Possible David Farrier & Karine Polwart: Different Futures are Possible Through literature, art, and science, David Farrier’s Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils asks what generations would find of today’s ecological crisis in the distant future. Musician Karine Polwart is also deeply interested in place as a site for… James Robertson (2010 Event) James Robertson (2010 Event) Winner of the Saltire Book of the Year award, James Robertson talks to James Naughtie to launch his novel And the Land Lay Still - in an event full of humour and surprises… Flora Fraser: On Flora Macdonald Flora Fraser: On Flora Macdonald Historical biographer Flora Fraser has illuminated the hidden lives of queens and mistresses through revolutions and scandals. Now with Pretty Young Rebel, Fraser turns her sights to Flora Macdonald, who disguised Bonnie Prince Charlie as a maid and… Maggie O'Farrell: Giving New Life to Shakespeare’s Son Maggie O'Farrell: Giving New Life to Shakespeare’s Son ‘Hamnet and Hamlet are in fact the same name, entirely interchangeable in Stratford in the late sixteenth century.’ This epigram to Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel, Hamnet, dispels any doubt that Shakespeare’s son and his most celebrated character are… Out of the Hot Zone Out of the Hot Zone The effects of the climate crisis are far-reaching and disastrous: from unliveable conditions and resource scarcity, to economic collapse, political unrest, and war. Over the course of the next 50 years, between one and three billion people will be left… Leone Ross: All the Flavours of Love Leone Ross: All the Flavours of Love On the imagined Caribbean archipelago of Popisho, slavery has never existed and the only attempt at colonisation has been successfully resisted by the inhabitants. That’s the fantastical setting for Leone Ross’s immersive and rambunctious novel This One… Chris Brookmyre: One Island, Seven Secrets Chris Brookmyre: One Island, Seven Secrets How much can really go wrong at a hen party? Bride-to-be Jen is about to find out. A private island provides a getaway for the celebrations, but it quickly becomes the backdrop to chaos, a disappearance and an anonymous blackmailer demanding that one of… Douglas Stuart with Val McDermid: Knives, Doves and Forbidden Love Douglas Stuart with Val McDermid: Knives, Doves and Forbidden Love Shuggie Bain won the Booker Prize, sold over a million copies and catapulted Douglas Stuart to instant worldwide fame – his follow-up is doing nothing to dampen the hype. Set in the 1990s amid the brutal landscape of sectarian working-class Glasgow, Young… Doireann Ní Ghríofa: A Ghost in the Throat Doireann Ní Ghríofa: A Ghost in the Throat The narrator in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat is acutely conscious that she’s occupying a female body, and that her body is itself a kind of ‘female text’ that bears witness to her life experiences. But A Ghost in the Throat is also a female… Marilynne Robinson: The Prodigal Son Marilynne Robinson: The Prodigal Son With her Gilead novels, Marilynne Robinson has created one of the most exquisitely and tenderly evoked communities in contemporary literature. Over four novels, Gilead, Home, Lila and now Jack, Robinson has portrayed life in the fictional small Iowa town…