Roman empresses. Renaissance mistresses. Spies in World War I. Codebreakers, bomber pilots, and snipers of World War II. Kate Quinn has an affinity for bringing to life the stories of women who confound expectations and change the outcomes of some of the most pivotal moments in world history. As she writes the novels of these influential, but often forgotten women, she’s intentional in making sure she’s “never saying, here’s one extraordinary woman. I want to say here’s one extraordinary woman, but look, there’s also other extraordinary women around her, even if they are not the focus of this novel as protagonists. … I want to show a whole variety of the female experience and how many women succeed and not just one.”
Quinn is the author of bestsellers such as the Empress of Rome saga and the Reese’s Book Club pick, The Alice Network. She learned the World War I spy-thriller was in the running for the second month of the book club while in a TSA line where, she said, “I literally had something like 20 minutes before my flight boarded and some very sketchy airport wi-fito get on social media and basically beg any person I had ever met in my entire life to go vote for me so that my book could get picked.” And it worked. The book ultimately became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and an NPR’s Best Book of the Year.
She followed that with two bestselling World War II novels, and , and is back with a third. , set partially in the freezing, bloody trenches of the Russian Front and partially in Washington, D.C., follows Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko, a mother and history student, as she enlists in the Soviet Army and becomes the deadliest female sniper in history—only to be shuttled off to the U.S. as part of the tightly choreographed Soviet Delegation trying to convince America to enter the war, where
