I do not read historical fiction very often but when I do reach for one, Kate Quinn has been my go to and this book did not disappoint. I think this is now my favourite Quinn novel as I Loved following Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Mila, through her time at the front to her time at America. I also appreciate that Quinn did not do choose the typical country when writing this book, she chose to feature a woman from the USSR and not a woman who was spying for the west but one that was actively fighting the Germans. Just to put it in perspective she was called Lady death and was credited with 309 official kills (and she had more unofficial ones as well)
Mila is a great character and you can understand why the USSR wanted her to be featured in the news and drum up support for the troops. She loves her country and will do anything that it takes to protect it as well as those that she loves. I love that she took up shooting so that her son would be able to learn from her and that it also served her well in the war. I do question if things were as "easy" for her with the men at the front line, but I do not doubt that she puts them in their place. I know that Quinn takes some creative liberties with the book, but I think that her depiction of what Mila thinks of the American women would be accurate and that it appears to her that in the USSR had more freedom and more ability to serve her country than the American women did.
I appreciate that Quinn does her research she knows about the important dates of the war that need to happen in this book for it to be believable. And trust me I checked to see if some of the date lined up and was questioning whether Quinn had her timeline right, and she does.
In her previous books I was always more of a fan of the more war aspect timeline than the more present, after the war timeline but in this one I enjoyed both timelines that Quinn presented. I wanted to know what was going to happen in each and how Mila ended up in America in the first place.
As I said above, this one is now my favourite Quinn book and I am looking forward to reading more by her. Even if you do not read this book, I highly suggest looking up Lyudmila Pavlichenko just to see how amazing of a woman she was.
No comments:
Post a Comment