The Secrets We Kept: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

Lara Prescott

Sep 2019 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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, Irina, a young Russian-American secretary, is plucked from the CIA typing pool and given the assignment of a lifetime. Her mission: to help smuggle Doctor Zhivago into the USSR, where it is banned, and enable Boris Pasternak’s magnum opus to make its way into print around the world. Mentoring Irina is the glamorous Sally Forrester: a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit, using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Under Sally’s tutelage, Irina learns how to invisibly ferry classified documents—and discovers deeply buried truths about herself.

The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story—the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who inspired Zhivago’s heroine, Lara—with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. Told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail, this is an unforgettable debut: a celebration of the powerful belief that a work of art can change the world. 

Ratings and reviews

3.5 stars is probably more accurate. Although a well-written and impressive debut novel about an interesting topic, I found I liked the book less and less as it progressed. The novel tells the story of the role played by the CIA in the publishing of the Russian novel "Dr. Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak. Because the novel was considered anti-Soviet in the 1950s, the manuscript had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union in order to be published internationally. The CIA helped distribute the novel as part of the government's Cold War strategy (proven by documents released years later under the Freedom of Information Act). The novel is constructed as a series of chapters voiced by different characters. Some represent the West: women working in the CIA's typing pool or others who work as CIA operatives. The chapters representing the East are voiced by Olga, Boris' mistress and the woman who inspired the character of Lara in Dr. Zhivago. It is Olga who tells us the story of Boris's life (and hers) inside the Soviet Union -- as his novel begins to garner worldwide recognition which causes embarrassment to the Soviet government. The story of how the novel came to be published is an interesting one. As are the lives of Boris and Olga under Soviet rule -- with surveillance, harassment, ostracism, and even a few arrests. And I appreciated learning more about the U.S. role in distributing Dr. Zhivago and how clandestine operations are carried out. But I found some of the lesser story threads, much less compelling. And I found myself annoyed at times, struggling to determine who was "voicing" some of the chapters, when the author intentionally made that identification obscure.

I couldn't put it down. Set against the Mad Men culture of the CIA in Washington, and the grip of Stalinism and the Cold War following Stalin's death in the USSR, this is the story of undercover work and under the covers adventures of the men and women who made the publication of Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago possible. Told in alternating chapters by women who kept the secrets in both Washington and Moscow's environs, it is both thrilling and heart breaking. One terrific read.

About the author

LARA PRESCOTT received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. She was previously an animal protection advocate and a political campaign operative. Her stories have appeared in The Southern Review, The Hudson Review, Crazyhorse, Day One, and Tin House Flash Fridays. She won the 2016 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize for the first chapter of The Secrets We Kept. She lives in Austin, Texas.