A Shadow in Moscow
In late 1944 in Nazi-occupied Vienna, Ingrid loses her Austrian father and English mother to the occupiers when they determine the couple isn’t loyal to the cause. With forged papers, she is recruited into British intelligence and stays in Vienna. As the war comes to a close, she forges a relationship with a soft-spoken Soviet embassy worker and later moves with him to Moscow, where she continues her espionage work, now against the communists.
In 1980 in Washington, DC, young Anya, originally from Moscow, is finishing her degree as part of the Soviet Foreign Studies Initiative at Georgetown University. It is an honor to be awarded such an appointment, though she is constantly watched by the KGB. Despite this, she comes to love the liberating freedom she sees in America and is quite willing to be recruited into the CIA.
This book is a consummately rendered and captivating espionage account of the Cold War, told from the perspective of two sympathetic and admirable women. It is also a resonating love story of freedom, family, and friendship. The author chillingly captures the horrors of the aftermath of the Soviet Socialist revolution where young students are “ideologically trained,” not simply educated. Historical western spy-traitors Kim Philby and Aldrich Ames make brief appearances as characters, and President Reagan and Pope John Paul II are portrayed as nightmares for the Soviets.
The constant danger and stress for the two heroic women, who are unaware of each other’s activities in Moscow, comes off as real and palpable. Working for freedom in a one-party dominated surveillance state with thoroughly co-opted institutions and media presents a constant nerve-wracking challenge for Ingrid and Anya. Filled with surprise twists and turns, and ultimately uplifting and inspiring, I found this superlative novel an enduring gem. Five stars!
