In one of the more shocking bits of recently uncovered literary history, a new book alleges that American Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway worked as a KGB agent in the 1940s.

According to the Guardian, the new book “Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America” includes the author on a list of KGB agents in the United States. The book rests on KGB files researched by former KGB officer Alexander Vassiliev, one of three co-authors of the Yale University Press title.

Here’s more from the article, summarizing Hemingway’s part in the book: “[He was] given the cover name ‘Argo,’ and ‘repeatedly expressed his desire and willingness to help us’ when he met Soviet agents in Havana and London in the 40s. However, he failed to ‘give us any political information” and was never ‘verified in practical work.’” (Via Fiction Circus)