The Diamond Eye

Content warnings: murder, violence, war, sexism, loss of a spouse

Russian Sniper Mila Pavlichenko becomes a national hero known as Lady Death.

Lyudmila "Mila" Pavlichenko married young because of her pregnancy but lives the life of a single mother and divorcée even though her husband never signed the final divorce papers. When her absentee husband Aleksey says their son needs a father to teach him how to shoot, she enrolls in an advanced marksmanship course.

When Germany invades Russia, she immediately enlists so she can fight the Nazis as a sniper. She becomes known as Lady Death as her tally of killed Nazis increases into triple digits.

As a national hero, Mila is invited to Washington, D.C. for a stay in FDR's White House. There is a plot to assassinate FDR and frame Mila for the crime while she is in D.C., and the timeline switches between Mila's WWII service and her present in Washington during a propaganda tour to encourage the US to join the war.

I'll admit it was hard to read about a patriotic Ukrainian-born Russian woman fighting for Soviet Russia with Russia's invasion of Ukraine currently underway. Mila's indignation that the Nazis would dare invade the USSR rings false when her country is currently doing the same. That said, Mila's story is an extraordinary one and deserves to be told.

Recommended for fans of WWII fiction looking for narratives outside of Europe and the USA.

Kate Quinn is a New York Times bestselling historical fiction author. She lives in San Diego.

Publisher: William Morrow (print); HarperAudio

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

Running Time: 12 hours, 51 minutes

Length: 447 pages

Release Date: March 29, 2022

Representation: single mother, woman soldier during WWII, Russian main character