Our Woman in Moscow

A Novel

By: Beatriz Williams

Narrated by: Nicola Barber, Cassandra Campbell

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

"A captivating Cold War page-turner." (Real Simple)

The New York Times best-selling author of The Summer Wives returns with a gripping and profoundly human story of Cold War espionage and family devotion.

In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family’s sensational disappearance. Were they eliminated by the Soviet intelligence service? Or have the Digbys defected to Moscow with a trove of the West’s most vital secrets?

Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from the twin sister she hasn’t seen since their catastrophic parting in Rome in the summer of 1940, as war engulfed the continent and Iris fell desperately in love with an enigmatic United States Embassy official named Sasha Digby. Within days, Ruth is on her way to Moscow, posing as the wife of counterintelligence agent Sumner Fox in a precarious plot to extract the Digbys from behind the Iron Curtain.

But the complex truth behind Iris’s marriage defies Ruth’s understanding, and as the sisters race toward safety, a dogged Soviet KGB officer forces them to make a heartbreaking choice between two irreconcilable loyalties.

©2021 Beatriz Williams (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Wonderful Listen

I thought this was an excellent story line and great listen - loved the Narrator, which is a good thing cause we audio folks know a poor narrator ruins the story. The story line flowed well and i enjoyed the the entire book.

Interesting historical fiction

Loved the idea of this story but had a hard time falling in love with the characters and their lives. The book is true to the time period but it just didn't really do it for me.

Always love a good Beatriz Williams book

Really good. Enjoyed listening to it. Her books always take me away to a different time and place.

The Spy Who Loved Me?

Overall, this was a good story, though I felt it dragged in the middle. Great narrative with good historical detail.

I Almost Gave Up On This Book

I almost gave because of the narration. I actually bought the book on Kindle because of the narration.

Not my favorite

Love this author but this has been my least favorite of her books. It was a little slow and was a long lead up to not a lot of information at the end. Disappointed

Wonderfully realistic and complex.

The writer brings the characters to life and their adventures are completely believable. The narration is spot on and the whole story flows perfectly. I didn’t watch TV during my work outs or after work for several days as I just couldn’t stop listening to this book.

interesting Spy Novel

i was interested in the idea of this novel. i found the characters sometimes hard to remember who was who. i did enjoy the ending and the twists were explained there.

Good plot idea, not great rendition

The idea of fiction based on the “Cambridge Five” is always good. Sure, there is plenty of fiction based on these characters, but there can always be another twist or angle. The setup was decent (though I could have done without the cheesy sex scenes and the repetitive descriptions of Sasha’eyes or hair, Iris’s attraction to him, Fox’s broad shoulders, etc. - stuff out of cheap romance stories, or at least I would guess, because I never read those), but the way the end was tied together was not so well done. The narration was great for some characters, and for others a mixed bag. Some voices and accents were convincing enough, others a bit amateurish. I did want to get to how the end happens (the end is predictable, but the how was of interest), and that is where it was kind of weak. The book overall held my interest, so I’d say it was a good listen, but not a “must” by any means.

Love the author. Didn't love this.

I typically fly through Beatriz's books whether reading or listening and this one took me forever to get interested in and finish. Listening I was honestly lost a lot of the time. I'd skip this one if you are a listener that multi-tasks.