First published in 1999, Secret Kingdom was the second panel in Francis Bennett's Cold War trilogy.

'For all of us now the Cold War is history... What interested me as a writer was how we survived. What went on behind the scenes?... I went looking for my own fictional explanations for historical events... In Secret Kingdom, which takes place in Hungary in the dangerous summer months [of 1956] that led directly to the Revolution, I knew that the British ambassador's warnings of trouble building up had been ignored by the Foreign Office in London. Why? What were the consequences of such an extraordinary and irresponsible act?' Francis Bennett

'The Cold War here is not just a political but also a psychological landscape... In picking out a personal history from the greater tapestry unfolding in the background Bennett has produced a literary thriller of considerable merit.' The Times