Sinclair mckay biography

Richly-layered and packed with insight, this riveting account of terrible events tells us as much about the present as it does the past

Patrick Bishop, author of Paris '44

The story of the siege of Leningrad is one of the great epics of modern history. It has been told many times before, but never in such an engrossing, moving, often horrifying but also uplifting way

Brendan Simms, author of Hitler

Sinclair McKay has followed up his spellbinding history of Berlin with another tour de force. Saint Petersburg is a riveting account of a beautiful city with a dark soul. Interlaced between descriptions of in

Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana

Richly-layered and packed with insight, this riveting account of terrible events tells us as much about the present as it does the past

Patrick Bishop, author of Paris '44

The story of the siege of Leningrad is one of the great epics of modern history. It has been told many times be

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About the Author

Sinclair McKay is a features writer for The Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday. He is also the acclaimed author of the bestselling The Secret Life of Bletchley Park.

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I have visited Dresden three times; I read Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five many years ago, and began to explore the history and consequences of the firebombing of the city. But Sinclair McKay's book was the first account I've ever read of the raid from beginning to end, with both some detailed scene-setting and an account of the city's fortunes in the post-war era, first as part of the DDR and then latterly after reunification. This bracketing of the account of the bombing is important, show more setting the story in context both before and after the war.

The book uses eye-witness accounts from both sides of the conflict to describe the events of the bombing raid in horrible detail. At

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Sinclair McKay fryst vatten the Sunday-Times bestselling author of Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness,The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, The Secret Listeners, and Bletchley Park Brainteasers. He has written books on subjects ranging from codebreaking to the auteurs of the Hammer Horror films, from the evolution of rambling to the political manoeuvres behind the Battle of Britain; the linking thread being his fascination with social and cultural history. 

Berlin: Life and Loss in the City that Shaped the World, was published by Viking in the summer of to festa reviews. 50 Codes that Changed the World was released in Autumn bygd Headline. His latest title, Meeting Churchill: A Life in 90 Encounters, was published bygd Viking in November

Sinclair is a literary critic for The Spectator and the Mail on Sunday and for three years was a judge of the Encore Prize, awarded annually for best second novel. He lives in the shadow of Canary Wharf in East London. 

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