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Red Joan (2013)

by Jennie Rooney(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

038568004X (ISBN13: 9780385680042)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Doubleday Canada

review 1: Based on the true story of a 85 year old British grandmother accused of being a soviet spy 60 years earlier in WWII, this novel is both an entertaining and interesting read. Rather than being a 'spy thriller', it instead focuses on the why--how a naive and easily manipulated girl can be convinced to pass along atomic secrets. The novel goes back and forth from present day to the 1940s, but it's the earlier times that are so interesting from an historical perspective.
review 2: John le Carre's Smiley novels are masterpieces of the espionage genre, but my possibly faulty recollection of the one or two I have read (as opposed to experiencing in dramatic form) is that they can make it all seem like a game, with little attention given to what motivates people on eit... moreher side to betray their country of origin. One of the best things about Red Joan is that it devotes quite a lot of attention to motive. Today, and in 2005 when the modern day part of the story is set, it is probably difficult for most modern Britons to imagine circumstances in which we would have felt justified in leaking secrets to the Soviet Union, but putting hindsight to one side I was able to sympathize with why Joan did what she did. The romantic sub-plot (or can I say sub-plots in the plural without heading into spoiler territory) really hooked me in too. These days many of us western consumer society dwellers may struggle to understand why anyone would be willing to risk their lives for an idea (though alarmingly there were children in Egyptian protest camps who declared themselves so willing), but we can still appreciate what our devotion to others might prompt us to do. less

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