In this gripping book, Nick Barratt delves into the murky waters of the
British and Russian secret service. Tracing the story of his great uncle
Ernest Holloway Oldham known as ARNO to his "friends" in the Russian
secret service we are taken on a journey through the dark secrets of
agents, special agents and double agents, during a period of history
when everyone had something to hide. After serving in the British army
during World War I, Ernest was drafted into the Communications
Department of the UK Foreign Office, where he was charged with
delivering encrypted messages to embassies and consulates around the
world. Over the course of the next decade or so, Ernest was drawn deeper
and deeper into the paranoid underworld of pre-Cold War espionage and
into a double-life that became the darkest of secrets."