The Diamond Eye (Kate Quinn)

What an amazing story, what a lady, what a novel! 

Kate Quinn brings to life a heroin of the Second World War, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Lyudmila, from Kiev in (then) Russia, was a mother very young and wanted to get a good life for her and her son, studying history. She attended a shooting school and when the war started, she decided to join the fight and convinced her superiors to let her use her skills as a sniper. She excelled and got given the nickname “Lady Death”. This earned her the recognition by the Russian officials and she embarked on a tour in the US in 1042 to advocate with the Allies for their help to Russia by opening a second front. She became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt, a friendship that lasted a lifetime. She did not return to the front but continued to train snipers during the war.

This book is written as a memoir by Lyudmila. And indeed she did write her memoirs which the author has researched and built the novel upon. The writing is beautiful and deep, and really conveys her skill, tenacity in the fight, thoughts, feelings, grief, pain and hope in a way that makes her feel so real and close to the reader. The author’s notes provide interesting insights about her life and about the choices she has made to fictionalise some parts of the story.

It was really an experience to read this book at the time of war in Ukraine. The resilience and combativity of Lyudmila, and the advocating to other nations for help, it all felt so real. One wonders what Lyudmila would have thought of our times.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you to the author for bringing to life such an interesting lady.