When we first meet Mila, she is in her early twenties, raising her young son with the help of her parents. This is, first and foremost, an exceptional character piece, a study of a woman who is a killer, a mother, a lover and, above all else, a survivor.The Diamond Eye is a novel about the real life Soviet sniper, Lyudmila (Mila) Pavlichenko. What really makes The Diamond Eye land, though, goes beyond Quinn’s mastery of her chosen genre. The Diamond Eye is a remarkable combination of immersive wartime storytelling, rich detailing and wonderful pacing. This structure steadily ratchets up the suspense as it becomes clear that Mila is not as welcome in the U.S. That press tour forms the novel’s narrative spine, unfolding in sections that alternate with Mila’s larger wartime odyssey. Mila’s perceptions of events are shown in relief to those of the men around her, and even to the perceptions of the American public, thanks to a 1942 press tour hosted by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In The Diamond Eye, we don’t just follow Mila’s journey into war we see her actions in sharp contrast to what the Soviet government will later say she’s done.
In each of her novels, Quinn displays an innate awareness of how history can be warped by time and power. Mila sets off for war and marches into her own legend.
When the Nazis invade the Soviet Union, her elite skill becomes a key asset in the Red Army’s fight to defend the motherland. In between working on her dissertation at Kiev University and raising Alexei, she finds that she’s brilliant with a rifle. Mila becomes a mother at 15 six years later, amid an impending divorce, she promises her son that she’ll teach him to shoot. With The Diamond Eye, she returns to the fertile storytelling terrain of World War II for a tale inspired by the extraordinary life of Russian sniper Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko, known as “Lady Death.”
As she has consistently proven in historical novels such as The Alice Network and The Rose Code, Kate Quinn is a master at crafting an intoxicating, well-balanced blend of immersive period details and deft character work.
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