Book Review: "The Secrets We Kept" by Lara Prescott
“The Secrets We Kept” by Lara Prescott
Synopsis: At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world--using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents.
The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story--the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara--with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature--told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.
Rating (out of 5): 3.75
Trigger warnings: child loss, Russian gulags, lavender scares, cancer, rape
Review: I love books with strong female heroines, I love books set in the World War II/Cold War era, and I love spy novels — so I should have loved this one more than I did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it ( I did), but it didn’t meet my admittedly high expectations. I wanted a spy novel, and I didn’t get that to the degree that I wanted. It was much more like a (doomed) romance novel than I was anticipating, which is the reason for the 3.75.
This is a fictional account of the true story of an American spy effort in the 1950s: publishing “Doctor Zhivago” and smuggling it back into the USSR, where it was banned. This was part of a larger “hearts and mind” strategy the CiA was employing in an attempt to motivate the Soviet populace to rise up against their authoritarian leaders. There are two parallel storylines: one of Olga, the longtime mistress of Dr. Z author Boris Pasternak, and one of the American women working on the effort from the Agency, alternatively the Typists, Irina, and Sally.
Note to future readers: it shifts chapter-to-chapter as to who the narrators are, and it can be a confusing as each narrator is given an alias, which often shifts as the story moves. Just something to keep in mind. While I do appreciate that there were multiple storylines, it at times felt a little bit thin — it was a lot of story to tell, and certain parts of it were stronger than others. At times, I even thought it was annoyingly vague; all of a sudden, two characters are in love with each other, and we haven't even seen how that happened? I was just taken a little by surprise (and I am aware it’s annoying that I am being vague here, but #spoilerfree over here!)
Admittedly, I have never read “Doctor Zhivago,” but I wasn’t lit on fire by the author’s telling of the love story between Pasternak and Olga. Instead of showing the passion, we were just told there was passion — enough for her to go to Siberia for him for half a decade! I know that real life experience inspired Lara in Zhivago, so maybe if I had read that, I would have seen more in their parallels. I did love the pictures that Lara Prescott painted of Soviet Russia; it felt quite realistic, and at times, quite terrifying. I cannot imagine the terror that Olga and her family felt when seeing the men in black cars appear at their home; nor can I imagine living through the gulag (tbh, I probably would have just given up).
I realize that I’m making this sound negative, but I did enjoy the book — it just wasn’t what I expected it to he be when reading the book jacket; that’s totally on me. The best parts, to me, were the mechanics of spying: Irina going undercover at the World’s Fair, or Teddy making dead drops in the middle of DC. At least there, there was tension and suspense that was lacking in the rest of the book. I also loved the messages of feminism that were inherent in Lara.Prescott’s choices - by choosing strong women as the lens for this story, by showing them being sex-positive and owning their choices, by demonstrating how they were able to make a difference even when the men around them underestimated them.
TL;DR: Don’t read this one if you’re looking for a traditional spy novel (like I was), but if you like an ill-fated love story full of glamour and a little bit of intrigue, this book is going to be great for you.
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