The Diamond Eye: A Novel

‘Odds are you’ve never heard of Lyudmila Pavlichenko’ – the author’s note to ‘The Diamond Eye’ reads. I might be one of the few people outside of the former USSR countries who, in fact did know. I found out that Lyudmila Pavlichenko existed because of a song. It was a movie soundtrack I found while mindlessly scrolling in YouTube. The song was in Russian, at the time I could barely get what it was about, but it turned out that the video was a movie trailer. I watched over and over the short video about a woman who is shipped off to war and decided ‘why not dig the movie out?’. If anyone likes to hear the song, it is named ‘Kukushka’ (cuckoo in Russian) and the singer is Polina Gagarina, whom I found out to be a famous Russian singer later on, but at the time I knew nothing of. So, there I was, trying to find the movie and I spent the whole evening of International women’s day (8th of March) watching a Russian WWII movie adaptation. The name of the movie is ‘The Battle for Sevastopol’ and I probably missed like half of the military terminology BUT I laughed, cried and cheered with the main character. At the time I didn’t even know that Lyudmila was not a fictional character, it looked too out of place for WWII to have a woman with so many deaths on her account. A woman sniper, right? Well, nope, I didn't believe that. So I Googled her and there I was, in March 2019, when I first found out who Lyudmila Pavlichenko was. I found out she wrote a memoir and I wanted to read it but I didn’t trust my Russian with that. The book wasn’t translated to Bulgarian and I somehow doubted it had an English version (and was too lazy to look it up), so I guessed that it would be too difficult for me, hence decided to wait a bit. The story went to the back of my mind as one of those weird historical facts I know, but nothing more. I hoped one day to be able to find the memoir and read it, but this was nothing sort of urgent. Until Lyudmila looked me in the eye from the shelves of a bookstore just across the office where I work. I was in there on my lunch break and saw her memoir, translated in Bulgarian. First row of books, newly published and translated for the first time because of the WWII anniversary that was coming next year. Do I need to mention I snagged the moment I got my paycheck? I spent the next three nights (I was at work during the day) reading the thin, but filled with facts book and just fell through time. It was in 2019, so some of the sniper specifics are out of my head now, but it was an interesting insight into the life of an extraordinary lady who documented the events with all the enthusiasm and responsibility of a historian. She somehow knew those events will matter and documented them. How the notes she wrote survived is something that still amazes me, but they did. I read that all and instantly started admiring that woman who overcame all odds and beat the men at their own game. I even researched a bit more and it turned out her memoir was censored before publication (not that it surprised me) and probably it was a little bit less filled with political propaganda (which was there). When Kate announced she is writing Lyudmila’s story, I was over the moon. I so much wanted to read her interpretation of the story! I had already seen one in the movie I watched, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the book. I eagerly waited until the book came out and ordered on launch day. Then couldn’t wait to have it delivered. Then I vowed to have the book and read it in one go. I couldn’t, for one reason or another BUT the book keep finding time for me. One page turned easily to 50 or 100 at a go, because Kate tells stories the way you simply NEED to keep reading! So much so, that this book kept me until 3 a.m. a few times because you cannot simply read ‘just a chapter’ of it. It wouldn’t leave you and the story just plunges you in war-torn Ukrainian USSR. You just see and feel what the character does and love and hate and cry with her. You cheer for her and hate her enemies. And that is said by a person who has read the original memoir and knows most of things in the book are supposed to be! I even found myself comparing the two in my mind and I like Kate's book better (I'll tell you why below). The book kept me on edge, entertained and crying for the ones Mila loses in the story and in real life. There are quite a few, but the man she meets on the battlefield is probably the most tragic one of all, full of what-ifs and would-bes... There is still something new to discover, a new angle of the story. The real Lyudmila is cold, distant and factual most of the time, her memoir zigzagging between the real horror story and tragedy she lived through, the dark humour of frontline life and the sweeping Soviet propaganda on almost every page (yep, I am not making this up, propaganda is almost everywhere, but the memoir is surprisingly readable and not at all boring). Lyudmila in Kate’s book is much more than the distinguished woman from the momoir. She loves, hates and has almost all vice and virtue a woman of 24 could have at the time (and even some surprisingly modern, but absolutely believable ones, if you know the real historical figure). She has some very clear motives for joining the war (which I love, as the memoir is vague on that) and some even clearer opinions on how the war went. I absolutely love how Kate filled in the gaps in the timeline and the facts that were missing in the memoir. If you read the memoir, you are left with bitterness as you see a woman who has been put behind the desk as a trainer with body and mind wrecked by the war and whose heart is empty cold as the tundra. She had served her country and sacrificed her life for it. Not in ‘The Diamond Eye’! I love the ending, it was a surprise, it gives resolution and peace to a soul that had very much earned it. I really hope that real-life Lyudmila got this kind of an ending – a peaceful happy life with her loved ones (and I know, I am spoiling the ending for you BUT I’m not gonna tell you how she gets to that point, read the book!). I keep comparing the book to the memoir, but I couldn’t help it, as I see two Lyudmila’s. The one in the memoir is a cut-out from a propaganda poster, the text heavily edited to suit its purpose. Trust me, anyone who has lived in a totalitarian state can tell this – I may not have seen those times in Bulgaria, but can spot a text that went through a thousand cuts for the sake of the Motherland. Where the cuts have missed, you could see the real Lyudmila smiling from across the decades and this is the image you will see in ‘The Diamond Eye’. Not a blind idealist, but a mother hell-bent on defending her son, sense of justice and land. Speaking of the facts, the fiction is way less than you think – trust me, I still remember the memoir I read back in 2019 – so most of the things you would find in the book are hard truth, told to us by Lyudmila herself. Where there IS fiction, it is so logical to be there and fits the story so well, that you can’t help but wonder ‘what if this was also true and the propaganda machine simply had cut it out from the original tale’. This book is one of those you want to start reading all over again once you turn the last page. It just such an immersing read, so well-written (and I am saying that as a non-native speaker to English who stumbles on odd military terms here and there) that you just forget it’s just a book and you feel part of the action. You are there in the sniper’s nest or at the press conference, you see the world through the eyes of the characters and… OK, I could keep on like that, but I will spoil the whole book for you, so my advice here is to simply go and read :)

I always enjoy historical fiction especially one that draws out strong women too often left in the shadows of history their stories of heroism never seeing the light of day. Thank you Kate Quinn for yet another wonderful novel with a strong historical woman and a beautifully told story of strength and how we harness our power as women through love (love for our family, children and country). Let’s not forget the power we harness from those that oppress us and our need to just get the job done. I loved this story!

“No woman could shoot 309 men and be capable of sipping tea with the first lady, cool as a cucumber.” Well Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko could!! Mila was a single mom who had gotten pregnant at 15 years old by an older man. She was a history student when war broke out, and she enlisted for her son and for her country. She had no shooting experience whatsoever, so it’s pretty amazing that she became one of the most famous female snipers in World War II. In the author’s notes at the end of the book, Kate Quinn says that a lot of the scenes in this book actually happened. She also said that almost every single name mentioned in the book were actually real people. That made me love the book even more! This historical fiction book is one that I absolutely loved! When I learn about history, I like to learn about it through a story, and Kate Quinn helped me learn so much about what snipers go through during war. And to hear it from a female‘s perspective was pretty amazing. This story has everything that I love in a good story: mystery, suspense, heroism, friendship, love, romance, and real people that I can get behind and support. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, did an absolutely amazing job! I could tell when different characters were speaking and who they were through the different tones she used, accents, and inflections in her voice. Wqrnings: This book is about war so there is death throughout. Mila is a sniper, so there is killing. There’s also some language throughout the book.

Kate Quinn does it again! She hits all the notes: History, strong women, suspense, romance, intrigue and surprise. A must read!

I never read about this part of WW2 and found it fascinating. Just the right amount of true history and fictional intrigue.

This book is very compelling and you won't be able to stop reading. I was fascinated by the sniper stories on the Russian front. However, the Washington D.C. sniper, the killing of her husband and stalking the sniper in the woods in D.C. was just too unbelievable. Made the story turn into a made for Hollywood movie.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn follows the rise of Lyudmila Pavlichenko ,"Lady Death", famed Soviet Sniper of WWII with an official kill tally of 309. I first heard about Lyudmila ("Mila") during my early - mid '00s Russian history obsession phase of my life (everyone has one of those, right...?) A woman fighting on the front lines during WWII? I was instantly captivated and always thought her life would make a fascinating movie or book. And lo and behold, the fabulous Kate Quinn has done just that. Quinn points out in her author's note that Mila's own memoir is fact based, devoid of much emotion, and had the stamp of approval from the Soviet propaganda powers that be. In turn, Quinn wanted to explore the hidden life of Mila--the emotions buried deep within the woman who outsiders at the time could only assume was a cold blooded killer. The reader first meets Mila as a young mother (she was 15 when she had her son) in college studying history, taking shooting courses on the side. Mila is studying in Odessa when the war breaks out and although she is loathe to leave her son, she immediately enlists due to her shooting skills. Mila's mantra throughout The Diamond Eye is "Don't miss." For her, that mantra is not just about the target, but everything in her life. While Mila has honed her craft as a sharpshooter, she constantly must prove herself again and again, even on the front line of battle, to her superiors that she is in fact capable and skilled in her role. Quinn's descriptions of the quiet rage of women in these settings are absolutely on point. What I loved most about The Diamond Eye was Mila's relationships: Lena, the first woman she encounters at the front who works in the Medical corp, Kostia her dark and myserious Siberian sniper partner, and Lyonya a Lieutenant in her company with who she forms a fast and wildly romantic bond amidst the backdrop of war. Readers will also love to hate Mila's ex and father of her child, the narcissistic army surgeon Alexei Pavlichenko. Quinn excels in fleshing out these relationships against the high stakes backgrounds of the Siege of Odessa and the Battle of Sevastopol. I found myself really caring about these characters and thinking about them/the real people behind them even when I wasn't reading. That's when you know a writer has done her job well! The Diamond Eye also recounts Mila's time in Washington DC in 1942, drumming up support for the Soviets with the hopes of Roosevelt opening a second front. Mila, in the book and in real life, befriended Eleanor Roosevelt. Their friendship is both unexpected and intriguing--and Eleanor even visited Mila fifteen years later on a goodwill mission to the USSR. At first I wasn't super keen on the narrative switching back and forth from Mila at the front to Mila in DC, but that story line eventually grew on me. The behind the scenes story points that happen amidst the DC events perhaps ask the reader to suspend her disbelief at times, but the occurrences round out Mila's character arc. I can't say enough good things about The Diamond Eye!

Fascinating premise, but moved a bit too slow... Until it didn't. Then it was exciting, heartbreaking and interesting. Mila is a strong and admirable character and Lyona was charming and captivating.

This is the best thing I’ve read in a decade. Longer. Wonderfully rich characters. Terrific suspense and action. The writing is sumptuous. It kept me turning the page, wanting more right till the end.

I'm drawn to historical fiction, and this book is particularly special. It masterfully weaves together the story of a sniper who fought in World War II with personal struggles. Without giving too much away, the author skillfully intertwines these two narratives, showcasing their subtle craftsmanship. The way the sniper's experiences blend with the personal battles creates a compelling and nuanced story. The author's storytelling ability shines through in this historical fiction novel, making it a standout read. The blend of history and personal struggle is expertly handled, resulting in a captivating and thought-provoking book that resonates deeply.

Excellent read! A real page turner with an amazing plot. Loved how it played out in historical context and had so many interesting twists and turns to the story. Capturing the themes of romance and suspense along with horror and adventure. Quinn is an amazing author!

Kate Quinn se supera a cada livro! Quem já conhece a autora, sabe que ela é uma excelente autora de romances históricos baseados na época das Grandes Guerras (1ª e 2ª), abordando a perspectiva inglesa, francesa e russa do conflito. Mas nesse livro a Kate faz algo um pouco diferente dos anteriores, o que reafirma a sua magia de contar histórias duras e verdadeiras de forma magistral. Nesse livro ela não apenas traz a perspectiva russa da Segunda Guerra em uma personagem 100% real (inclusive tendo o Memoir da Mila como principal bibliografia), como nos leva da Russia aos Estados Unidos e à Casa Branca para conhecermos o Presidente Roosevelt e a primeira dama Eleanor. Kate merece todo o hype que recebe!

A story that is part truth & part fiction. I enjoyed how the story of a real person was woven together with a story of what might have happened. Bloodthirsty in places, war is bloodthirsty but worth persevering with. An exciting story that had me on the edge of my seat at times, the loss of some of the characters was difficult but the last few chapters had me galloping along dying to find out what happened. A great book. I look forward to hearing what the rest of my book club members think of it.