Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Part of the Family / The Most Difficult Thing | 2019 | Buy |
| A Double Life | 2020 | Buy |
| The Second Woman | 2021 | Buy |
| Edith & Kim | 2022 | Buy |
| The Secret Lives of Women Spies | 2025 | Buy |
Charlotte Philby spent eight years at the Independent as a columnist, editor, and reporter, and was shortlisted for the Cudlipp Prize for investigative journalism in 2013. Her journalism background shows in the way her fiction is constructed: her thrillers are grounded in the bureaucratic and domestic textures of real life rather than the high-gloss action of traditional spy stories.
Her first three novels form a loose triptych examining the choices women make under pressure. Part of the Family (published as The Most Difficult Thing in some territories) introduces Anna, who appears to have a perfect life while hiding a dangerous secret. A Double Life and The Second Woman continue that interest in women caught between their public selves and what they are actually doing, and the kind of loyalty that can curdle into something more complicated.
Edith and Kim takes a different turn, using Charlotte’s family history as the basis for a fictional account of her grandfather Kim Philby and Edith Tudor-Hart, the Austrian-born photographer who drew him into the Soviet cause. Her 2025 book The Secret Lives of Women Spies is a non-fiction collection for younger readers, gathering stories of more than twenty real women who worked in intelligence.