Lara Prescott
Author of The Secrets We Kept
About the Author
Image credit: Lara Prescott at BookExpo at the Javits Center in New York City, May 2019. By Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79387568
Works by Lara Prescott
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1981
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Greensburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Members
Reviews
What a truly amazing book, one that works on so many levels. As historical fiction, it pulls from the files of the CIA and the experiences in Soviet "re-education" camps. As a book about women in the workforce, it nails the reality of being just as talented as men and offered menial roles. As a look at LGBTQ+ issues, it describes what life was like when being in the closet was a choice between existence and non-existence. And most of all, it describes the steps taken by so many to publish Boris Pasternak's literary masterpiece, "Dr. Zhivago."
The story takes place in two locales, clearly labeled: East and West, and during roughly the same time period of 1949 - 1961. In the East, Boris Pasternak is putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece, while Olga, his mistress, is visited by the KGB to inquire about her involvement in his work. This visit eventually leads to the Gulag; Boris is ruminating about his fellow writers and poets who have met a similar fate. The difference is that Stalin loves Boris Pasternak's poetry and his hand has protected Pasternak.
Meanwhile, after the Second World War ends, the women in the OSS who performed admirably are given jobs at the Agency. As typists. Despite their talents, despite their successes, they are asked to type memos and notes and letters, day after day. They form a camaraderie and one of them is Irina. Her mother left Soviet Russia without her husband, and at his death in the USSR she begins to ply her trade as a dressmaker to the community. Irina lives with her and most of the story from the West portions are told from her POV.
The 3 years Boris and Olga spend apart are described, and when the book is finally, finally completed the manner in which it was published would interest the most diehard John le Carré geek. What resulted was pure Soviet machinations to try to explain why the rest of the world read it before it was published in Russia.
In the West, Irina is befriended by Sally, and Irina is engaged to Ted who has a passion for all things Russian. Which is what attracts him to Irina. There are details about life as a working woman in Washington, D.C. in the 50's that are not too different from our own time. The details about life in the Agency as an LGBTQ+ person are horrendous and also, sadly, timely.
I found that this was a book I needed to savor, like a fine wine or heady beer. Pick up, enjoy, then put down.… (more)
The story takes place in two locales, clearly labeled: East and West, and during roughly the same time period of 1949 - 1961. In the East, Boris Pasternak is putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece, while Olga, his mistress, is visited by the KGB to inquire about her involvement in his work. This visit eventually leads to the Gulag; Boris is ruminating about his fellow writers and poets who have met a similar fate. The difference is that Stalin loves Boris Pasternak's poetry and his hand has protected Pasternak.
Meanwhile, after the Second World War ends, the women in the OSS who performed admirably are given jobs at the Agency. As typists. Despite their talents, despite their successes, they are asked to type memos and notes and letters, day after day. They form a camaraderie and one of them is Irina. Her mother left Soviet Russia without her husband, and at his death in the USSR she begins to ply her trade as a dressmaker to the community. Irina lives with her and most of the story from the West portions are told from her POV.
The 3 years Boris and Olga spend apart are described, and when the book is finally, finally completed the manner in which it was published would interest the most diehard John le Carré geek. What resulted was pure Soviet machinations to try to explain why the rest of the world read it before it was published in Russia.
In the West, Irina is befriended by Sally, and Irina is engaged to Ted who has a passion for all things Russian. Which is what attracts him to Irina. There are details about life as a working woman in Washington, D.C. in the 50's that are not too different from our own time. The details about life in the Agency as an LGBTQ+ person are horrendous and also, sadly, timely.
I found that this was a book I needed to savor, like a fine wine or heady beer. Pick up, enjoy, then put down.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 2
- Members
- 1,226
- Popularity
- #20,944
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 60
- ISBNs
- 42
- Languages
- 9
Prescott’s debut is a literary espionage novel. The story is told from the perspectives of three different women. Sally has adopted a glamorous and sophisticated persona, which she has created by practicing deceit all over the world to pry secrets out of men. Irina is the daughter of a Russian immigrant, and the newest member of the CIA’s typing pool. Olga is Boris Pasternak’s mistress and muse. When the Soviet government refuses to allow Pasternak to publish his masterpiece, Doctor Zhivago, Olga helps arrange for it to be published in Italy. It becomes an international sensation, and the CIA hatches a plot to smuggle the book back into the USSR. Irina is recruited to help, and Sally is tasked with training her.
Although I have gotten tired of the multiple-narrators device, I have to admit that Prescott did a good job of it in this novel of intrigue and manipulation. Sally and Irina, in particular, each had information that the other lacked, and their push/pull relationship had to be affected by this. I was drawn into their dynamic and thought Prescott gave us a perfect ambiguous ending to their story.
I remember what a blockbuster hit the movie of Doctor Zhivago became. My friends and I all wanted fur hats (yes, even in Texas). At that age I had no idea of the political ramifications the novel had in Russia. I’m glad that Prescott chose to tell this story and enlighten me.… (more)