Red Joan

This novel is based on the real life story of Melita Norwood, an eighty seven year old woman who in 1999 was unmasked as the KGB's longest serving British spy. In the novel Joan Stanley is a loving mother and grandmother, living quietly in the suburbs, but she has a dark secret and it comes back out of the shadows one morning when her doorbell rings….
Hunstanworth Village Hall Book Group review: Eight members read this book. They gave it an overall score of 4 / 5.
All the members who read this book really liked it, and found it an engrossing read.
Although it is in essence a spy novel (not a genre that many of us would normally enjoy) we found ourselves drawn into the story here, perhaps because it is written by a woman and features a female protagonist. Rather than being action packed, the novel delves into Joan’s emotions to let readers see and understand why she acted as she did, especially after the bombing of Hiroshima. The fact that she is female also rendered her almost invisible in the laboratory where she worked. She was seen almost as just another secretary, despite her high academic qualifications, gained at a time when academic life was far from welcoming for women.
Joan’s background, and the times she lives in, contribute to her naivety, and so to being exploited by Russian-born cousins Sonya and Leo when they meet in Cambridge and in their lives afterwards, although by the end of the novel Joan seems to have become more thoughtful and insightful than them, no longer prepared to simply tow the party line. Both Sonya and Leo are appealing and charismatic characters when we first meet them in the novel, and it is easy to see how Joan would be swept along by them.
The sections dealing with the development of the atom bomb and the Cold War worked well in showing how little information people had, and the kinds of narratives that were current at the time.
The novel is also a love story, and we enjoyed this aspect too, watching how the main characters developed over time, and how so many lives were affected by the times and dilemmas they lived through.
Over recent months we have read a number of novels structured within switching timelines, some more successfully than others. We felt that this structure worked well here, and kept readers on tenterhooks with both the storylines.
Overall we found this book easy to read, but with enough complexity to keep the reader’s interest alive throughout, and with plenty to discuss.

We received copies of the book via Vintage , and The Reading Agency (with thanks). #Red Joan @ReadingAgency