A Woman of Intelligence: A Novel

Written by Karin Tanabe

Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

"Captivating."—The Washington Post

Named a Best Book of Summer by Good Morning America • BuzzFeed • PopSugar • BookRiot • LifeSavvy • CT Post

From "a master of historical fiction" (NPR), Karin Tanabe's A Woman of Intelligence is an exhilarating tale of post-war New York City, and one remarkable woman’s journey from the United Nations, to the cloistered drawing rooms of Manhattan society, to the secretive ranks of the FBI.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jul 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250802286

Karin Tanabe

Karin Tanabe is the author of over half a dozen novels, including A Woman of Intelligence and The Gilded Years. A former Politico reporter, her writing has also appeared in The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, and Newsday. She has appeared as a celebrity and politics expert on Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and CBS Early Show. Karin is a graduate of Vassar College and lives in Washington, D.C.

Reviews for A Woman of Intelligence

[Emily Lassiter Branch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While this wasn't quite the book I expected it to be based on the synopsis I'd read, I quite enjoyed it and found it fascinating. A comment from the author I found on Goodreads explains goal in writing this book nicely: "I wanted to write a book where a mother chooses herself. And that’s what this book is. It’s a spy story, and a love story, and a book that I hope captures an era, and a struggle that women still face today, but that is ultimately about a woman choosing herself."
Set in 1954, it's about a young woman who was building a career as a translator at the U.N. post WWII. When she marries a doctor who also happens to be a member of a wealthy and prominent family in New York City, she doesn't realize just how much her life will change - especially when she has two baby boys in rapid succession. Lovely as her life may seem from the outside, she feels trapped. She loves her children and her husband, but at the same time desperately misses her work at the U.N. So when she's approached by the FBI to work as an informant to gain information on a former lover, she ultimately says yes. What follows is indeed a spy story and a love story. It does capture the era, and more importantly, the issues that women faced then and still do today - both the physical hormonal ones, and the societal ones. While I never experienced what Katharina experienced (or Karin Tanabe herself), I can certainly empathize.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narration by Jennifer Jill Arraya is excellent.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

[Laura Greer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great inspirational book! I read it in two days