A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe, Jennifer Jill Araya (Narrator)

 

A Fifth Avenue address, parties at the Plaza, two healthy sons, and the ideal husband: what looks like a perfect life for Katharina Edgeworth is anything but. It’s 1954, and the post-war American dream has become a nightmare.

A born and bred New Yorker, Katharina is the daughter of immigrants, Ivy-League-educated, and speaks four languages. As a single girl in 1940s Manhattan, she is a translator at the newly formed United Nations, devoting her days to her work and the promise of world peace―and her nights to cocktails and the promise of a good time.

Now the wife of a beloved pediatric surgeon and heir to a shipping fortune, Katharina is trapped in a gilded cage, desperate to escape the constraints of domesticity. So when she is approached by the FBI and asked to join their ranks as an informant, Katharina seizes the opportunity. A man from her past has become a high-level Soviet spy, but no one has been able to infiltrate his circle. Enter Katharina, the perfect woman for the job.

Navigating the demands of the FBI and the secrets of the KGB, she becomes a courier, carrying stolen government documents from D.C. to Manhattan. But as those closest to her lose their covers, and their lives, Katharina’s secret soon threatens to ruin her.

With the fast-paced twists of a classic spy thriller, and a nuanced depiction of female experience, A Woman of Intelligence shimmers with intrigue and desire.

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About The Author

 

Karin Tanabe is a fiction writer and former Politico reporter whose writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and The Washington Post among many other publications. Before turning to fiction, Karin worked as a journalist covering politics and lifestyle. She has made frequent appearances on Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and CNN. A graduate of Vassar College, she lives in Washington D.C.

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My Review

 
As I delved into this book, and got to know Katarina, aka Rina, and her elite Doctor husband, you could envy their way of life. Rich, successful and living the dream in a apartment in Manhattan, who could want more? Then add in two boys, a baby and a young toddler, and you know that Rina has her hands full.
Now Rina is full time mother, and Tom Edgeworth is a gifted children’s surgeon, living an exciting awarding life. Rina gave up her job at the UN, when she was expecting her first son.
I don’t identify with Rina, but in a way, she was slowing dying being a mother. Sad, yes, but for me I kept listening, and really couldn’t picture how she got away with what she did!
There are a lot of emotions in play here, and the narrator does a really great job!
Yes, I kept listening right to the end, and her escapades made for an entertaining and at times breath holding adventures, and yes, I would love to have been there to see Ingrid Bergman and her encounter with our Rina!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Macmillan Audio, and was not required to give a positive review.