The Secrets We Kept by Lara PrescottMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
There has been a spate of books over the past few years about women who worked as spies during World War II. Much less has been written about what became of these women once the war ended, the men came home, and they women were supposed to retreat into domestic bliss. The reality was that many didn’t want to give up the exciting lives they’d led. With the onset of the Cold War, it turns out many didn’t. They may have pretended to be “mere” housewives or, as in the case of Lara Prescott’s novel, The Secrets We Kept, typists in a steno pool, but some continued to lead fascinating double lives.
The novel alternates viewpoints among:
– the smart, gossipy women in the steno pool,
– protagonist Irina, whose parents were from Russia, and whose ability to speak Russian made her of interest to the spy agencies,
– Sally, a sexy redhead who becomes an object of fascination for the steno pool women (& their sexist male bosses),
– Teddy, one of the men working for the spy service,
– Olga Ivinskaya, the long-time lover of Russian author, Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago
Growing up in the 1970s, when the movie version of Doctor Zhivago became a huge hit, I had not been aware of the controversy surrounding Pasternak’s novel, nor of his complicated love life. The book does an excellent job of portraying that, at the same time as illuminating the Cold War games played by both sides.
An entertaining and fascinating read.
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