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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
Sep 2019, 368 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2020, 368 pages
Book Reviewed by:
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A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice--inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.
A Hello Sunshine x Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
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.
Prologue
The Typists
We typed a hundred words per minute and never missed a syllable. Our identical desks were each equipped with a mint-shelled Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter, a black Western Electric rotary phone, and a stack of yellow steno pads. Our fingers flew across the keys. Our clacking was constant. We'd pause only to answer the phone or to take a drag of a cigarette; some of us managed to master both without missing a beat.
The men would arrive around ten. One by one, they'd pull us into their offices. We'd sit in small chairs pushed into the corners while they'd sit behind their large mahogany desks or pace the carpet while speaking to the ceiling. We'd listen. We'd record. We were their audience of one for their memos, reports, write-ups, lunch orders. Sometimes they'd forget we were there and we'd learn much more: who was trying to box out whom, who was making a power play, who was having an affair, who was in and who was out.
Sometimes they'd refer to us not...
It was absolutely a stunning page-turner of historical fiction, meticulously researched, with characters so masterfully fleshed out that you forget the "fiction" aspect entirely. When I closed the final pages, I was not ready to leave Olga, Sally, Irina and the typists behind, despite the satisfying endings (Tiffany V). Lara Prescott does a wonderful job making these three women come alive (Jeanne W)...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Epic in scope, deliciously meaty, and utterly convincing. Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This
A first-rate novel, and it signals the arrival of a major new writer. Deb Olin Unferth, author of Minor Robberies
One of the most unique and devastating novels [I have] read in years. Elizabeth McCracken, author of Thunderstruck & Other Stories
Stylish, thrilling, smart, vivid. H.W. Brands, author of The First American
Provocative, haunting and a damn good read. Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network
The Secrets We Kept is simply sensational. Two gripping narratives unfold in the pressure cooker of the Cold War: passionate, courageous Olga who stands in the shadow of Soviet author Boris Pasternak yet inspires him to write a heroine for the ages, and the cynical, equally-overshadowed women of the CIA who help bring Pasternak's masterpiece Dr. Zhivago to bear as a weapon against Soviet oppression. From the gulags of the USSR to the cherry trees of Washington DC, the story grips and refuses to let go. Lara Prescott is a star in the making.
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott revolves around the publication of Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel Dr. Zhivago, which was banned in the Soviet Union because of the author's perceived anti-socialist ideals. The novel was adapted into a film in 1965 by British director David Lean (famous at the time for Lawrence of Arabia), starring Omar Sharif as the title character and Julie Christie as his love interest Lara Antipova. Dr. Yuri Zhivago grows up wishing to be a poet, but becomes a doctor instead. He marries his cousin Tonya, but falls in love with another woman, Lara, who is married to a Bolshevik activist, Pasha Antipov. Drama and tragedy ensues, against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. Though it was panned by many critics at the...
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