The Secrets We Kept

★★★★ (4/5)

Happy 2020 everyone! So excited to be kicking off with my first 2020 review, and The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott was a great way to start the year. I should preface by saying that I love most historical fiction, but I am especially into Russian historical fiction. I have absolutely no idea why (I've never actually been there), but if you were to check my favorites bookshelf on Goodreads, you'd see that 3/30 are Russian historical fiction. That's a solid 10%! So needless to say, when I saw the description of this book and found out it was also a Reese's BookClub pick, I was immediately on board (I was on hold at the library for WEEKS)- the book takes place shortly after the cold war across Soviet Russia and the US, has three very strong female protagonists, plus spies helping to spread manuscripts of Doctor Zhivago. Count me in!

The story is told from the perspective of three very different but very compelling women. First is Olga, the mistress and muse of the famed Boris Pasternak - Russian author of the classic banned novel, Doctor Zhivago. Second is Irina, a young woman of Russian heritage who applies for a role as a typist at the CIA and gets quickly sucked into deep spy infiltration work. Finally you have Sally, the bombshell former agent who comes back into operation to train Irina in everything she knows. The three cover the globe during their participation in ensuring that Doctor Zhivago is known to the world. 

I have to admit that I probably didn't give the book all the attention it deserved as I got to the end due to holiday distractions. This may have impacted my feelings about how the stories end and I'm curious to know if you guys agree, or if you think I just wasn't giving it the right amount of love all the way through. 

Irina was definitely my favorite character and I found myself drawn to her right away. I absolutely loved reading everything about her training and missions - it was fascinating to think about how intricately planned they all were, down to receipts and drink preferences. I also loved the storyline with Sally and was dying to see what would happen there. I will say that unfortunately Irina's ending fell a little flat for me. Maybe it was due to the aforementioned holiday distractions or just because it wasn't the ending I was hoping for, but it felt like something was missing with her, especially after how invested I was in this character from the beginning. 

Sally was similar to Irina in that I was drawn to her instantly as well. I loved her glamour and war stories, and loved getting to know the true heart she closed off to most of the world. I was so outraged for her at so many points in her story that I was dying to get closure with her character, and again felt like I didn't get everything I was looking for.

Finally, I felt like Olga was the most holistic character and yet the hardest for me to understand. The book really kicks off with the gripping description of her arrest and prison time at the Gulag due to her love for Boris. It proceeds to tell the story of their affair and the consequences it has on her life - really, his life was Zhivago, and her life was him. She was the muse who inspired Lara, and their ending was eerily similar. 

A theme that was constantly present throughout the book was how much the women were underestimated and also put up with for & from the male characters. Whether it was the Typing Pool watching the men get promoted, or Sally's general treatment, or Olga's imprisonment, it was eye opening & infuriating. Ultimately, Prescott captures the elements of the times beautifully: the secrets, the glamour, the mysteries, and the desperation. She also creates characters that you are invested in from the very beginning - and because of that I wanted a little more from their endings. Like I said, I'm curious to see who agrees or who thinks I just missed my own mark! This book would be a 3.5/5 for me on Goodreads, but I'm rounding up because it truly is my perfect book recipe.