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This one was fun. Bored unhappy housewife becomes spy.

A true woman of “intelligence” could handle 2 energetic toddlers without an air of poor, poor pitiful me. Although she may have suffered from PPD, the main character‘s superior attitude about her higher education & multilingual gifts was so very annoying… &, repetitive throughout the story. I almost bailed after 2 chapters & should have. I am of the attitude that a child is a gift from God 🤷‍♀️

I feel like I can say with a high level of confidence that if my 2 year old spit in my face and ran away through the park I probably would feel like jumping in front of a subway train. For Mrs. Edgeworth this is just another typical day in her life, until she has a clandestine meeting with an FBI agent, which leads her to become a covert communist spy. A heartwarming story of one woman‘s return to sanity after losing herself to motherhood.

This book was enjoyable. It was a slow starter for me. I thought the main character was interesting, I didn't relate to her in the beginning but I liked her. Later in the book, I got frustrated with her as the story went on but sympathized. The story got more interesting as it unfolded. If you want to read a book that has some depth, but an easier read, this is a good choice.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐A beautiful historical fiction novel set in the 1950's. The Red Scare & the McCarthy hearings dominate national news, housewife Katharina Edgeworth finds herself stuck at home. Motherhood is proving to be less fulfilling than she expected. Lee Coldwell shows up & offers her an opportunity to work as an informant for the FBI. Rina suddenly finds herself in over her head & desperately trying to prevent her worlds from colliding.

Review is up on my blog! Check it out!

https://reecaspieces.com/2021/07/26/a-woman-of-intelligence-by-karen-tanabe-macm...

This is at heart a historical fiction, but yet this story is so much more. This is a feminist story, with Katharina who wants to break the mold for the typical woman of this time. This was a story, that takes on topic that I found is not normally written about. Tanabe writes a strong heroine, and tells a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Would have finished this yesterday morning, but I'm dealing with an UTI and slept most of day.

It was just meh to me. I was expecting more. It was slow. But I finished it.

#Bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

Love this quote:

"The only people who are color-blind are children."

So true and so powerful

Katharina is a 38 yo woman who gave up her career as a translator at the newly formed UN to marry a prominent doctor and begin a family. This chronicles her life as a single, party girl into a proper socialite wife/mother of two who is asked to spy by the FBI on a former college lover who is a prominent Communist leader in NY.
This was an odd book for me. While I liked that the protagonist was trying to fight back against the social norms of 🔻

Love when I learn something new about where I live… who knew the original headquarters of the UN was 2 miles away from where I am currently standing and where I go shopping and food shopping all the time!
Only 3 chapters into this #arc from #netgalley but enjoying it!

I can't recommend this book. The voice felt too contemporary for the period from the beginning but I couldn't put my finger on why, and then bubble wrap was used in a description, when this book purportedly takes place in 1946. It jerked my right out of my suspension of disbelief.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Next ARC!

ARC #NetGalley thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book
I read about 30% of this book. It's a story of an upper class mother who left her life as a UN interpreter to get married and be trapped by motherhood. She ends up being recruited by the FBI for undercover work. I just couldn't synthesize the flow of this book. So a DNF Sorry!!
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Thank you Edelweiss for the advanced copy.
This was a fun engrossing read. A woman who worked for the UN in the 40s quits to have babies and looses herself, only to find herself again when she starts spying for the FBI against the communists.
A book that blues the lines between who is good and who might just be making "bad decisions" in the McCarthy era.
Easy to read and a story that moves at a good pace.