Antonia Senior has been a named a finalist of the Orwell Foundation’s prestigious Political Writing book prize 2026 for her book Stalin’s Apostles.

The judges praised Antonia’s ‘enthralling (and chilling) exploration’ and said: ‘Stalin’s Apostles is gripping and superbly written, evoking the times and places its characters inhabit as well as any spy novel. But despite the quality of the writing and the buffoonery of its subjects, Senior has written a serious work of history that takes the Cambridge Five, and their crimes, deeply seriously. She gives due prominence to their many victims, and shows just how important they were to the Soviet domination of Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War. This is a book that entirely rewrites a story that many people may think they know.’

Congratulations, Antonia, for this incredible and well-deserved achievement!