Like many novels, Reay creates two separate story timeliness to propel this Cold War story forward; one that begins in 1954 and one that begins in 1980. Here is my book review A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay.

Vienna after the War

Ingrid Bauer has lost everything and everyone she loves. Her beloved Vienna is in shambles. And so she agrees to a brief courtship and marriage to a Soviet embassy worker and they move back to Moscow where he accepts a promotion.

But timid Ingrid finds everything about the Soviet regime difficult. Including her husband who she now suspects is working for the KGB. When she gives birth to a daughter, she realizes this secretive Soviet world is not what she wants for this darling little baby to grow up with. And so she secretly reaches out to the British embassy, where she was secretly born, and begins a life as a spy.

Moscow at the Height of the Cold War

Anya, a bright and aspiring student from the Soviet Union, has spent four years in the coveted Foreign Studies Initiative at Georgetown University. During her time in the USA she has pretended to be German, because the USSR and the USA are definitely not friends. She has also fallen in love with an American, although she knows she must cut the relationship off, as her time to return to the Soviet Union approaches.

Anya struggles after she returns, and begins to question the oppressive regime. When her best friend is murdered by the KGB, Anya vows revenge and becomes a spy for the United States.

On a Collision Course

As these two stories unfold, it’s clear these two remarkable women are headed for a collision course. But what does that mean? When a act of treachery in Eastern Europe puts them both in extreme danger, something, or someone will make a decision that will change everyone’s lives forever.

Book Review A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay

I really loved this book. I enjoyed a novel about the Cold War era…a topic not often explored. The writing is very good and I was intrigued throughout. *****Five stars for A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay.

Thanks for reading my book review A Shadow in Moscow by Katherine Reay. See last week’s book review A River We Remember by William Kent Krueger here.