Bridge of Spies (44 page)

Half a century is more than half most lifetimes. I was lucky to find survivors of the stories told here and I am grateful to those who agreed to tell them, especially when it meant throwing off the secrecy that bound them during the cold war. Most are acknowledged in the Note on Sources, but I am particularly indebted to Frederic Pryor, the only survivor of the prisoner exchange of February 10, 1962, for reaching back into his memories of a unique and painful episode.

Scores of others helped with the research and writing of this book, chief among them Chris Pocock and Vin Arthey. Both are experts without whose unstinting advice the project might well have imploded. In Russia, I would have been at a loss without the irreplaceable and irrepressible Olga Sorokina. For their willingness to answer e-mails, give out numbers, or tolerate long absences or sudden impositions I would also like to thank Christopher Andrew, Joseph Albright, Tom Baldwin, Stan Beerli, Tony Bevacqua, Grace Blundy, Linda Rios Bromley, David Chappell, Daniel Finkelstein, Thomas Fuchs, Tim Hames, James Harding, Yuri Kobaladze, Margarita Kondrasheva, James Nathan, Rebecca Nicolson, Norbert Potzl, John Ray, David Reynolds, Laura Swanson, Alla Vareldzjan, Konstantin Yershov, and Lyudmila Yershova.

My thanks to Bill Hamilton for his unfailing support and wisdom, to Bill Thomas for taking the plunge, to Charlie Conrad for making sense of the result, and to Jenna Ciongoli, Rachel Rokicki, Julie Cepler, and the rest of the team at Broadway Books for their astonishing patience. I am grateful also to George Lucas in New York for lunch and Mike Jones in London for whatever lies in store. In Wiltshire, Jon and
Hilary Stock let me use their house. In Chelsea, Matthew and Kate Whittell let me use their boat. In Putney and Marblehead, Jim, Jane, Fran, and Ted helped to look after Bruno, Louis, and Enzo, but my deepest thanks and love are for Karen, who looked after everyone, all the time.