Our Woman In Moscow

Our Woman In Moscow is not your typical historical fiction novel. Not only is it about a less explored time period during the Cold War, but it also involves spies and espionage which adds a level of mystery to the novel. I’ll admit it took me almost 115 pages to become invested in this story, but once I did, I was very intrigued and I couldn’t stop reading. Or I should say listening because I found myself immersed in the story and listening to the audio for the second half. The narrators were fantastic.

📚 Book Review 📚

Title: Our Woman In Moscow

Author: Beatriz Williams

Publisher: William Morrow

Genre: Historical Fiction

It’s 1948 and Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. This is absolutely shocking news. What happened? Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or did the Digby’s actually defect to Moscow with some of the West’s most vital secrets?

Four years later, Ruth McCallister, Iris’s twin sister, recieves a post card that she is due to give birth in Moscow and needs help! Ruth hasn’t seen her sister since 1940 when they parted ways in Rome where they were living with their brother who was also an American diplomat before the start of the war; When Iris fell in love with Sasha Digby an American diplomat that Ruth didn’t like.

Suddenly, Ruth finds herself on her way to Moscow posing as the wife of a counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox. Woah!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My gut reaction when I finished this book was 3.5. But, after sitting on it for a few days, chatting with my bookclub, and zooming with the author; I think it’s worthy of more.

My initial thoughts ➡️ Listen, I love a good dual timeline historical fiction, but for some reason I found this one a little confusing at times. Or maybe it just that some of the the details leading up the the Digby’s disappearance just felt irrelevant. This book started slow for me I think could’ve been shorter. I think the author is a great story teller. I think the bones are here to the story, but maybe it could of been shorter. Added thoughts ➡️ Actually she’s an amazing storyteller. She did a zoom with our bookclub last night and boy is she a fascinating and brilliant woman! No wonder her characters shine so much.