I had a really hard time relating to Millie, the main character in this novel. She seemed to have no moral compass and made empathizing with her extremely difficult. She constantly threw herself at married women and was clearly very unhappy about her physical appearance, causing her to put herself down way too much. I also had a hard time with her defense of socialism/communism.

Based on the true story of American journalist Milly Bennett. I honestly knew nothing about her until I read this book which intrigued me. Her full name was Mildred Jaqueline Bremler who often wrote under her married names: Mildred Mitchell and Mildred Amelie.

The story focuses on her time in Moscow during the 1930’s under the political leadership of Joseph Stalin. In 1934, Milly Bennett is a 37 year old reporter working for the Moscow Daily News with several other American reporters.

In February 1931, Milly Mitchell (married name on passport) travels by ship from New York to Russia to work as a reporter for the Moscow Daily News. Anna Louise Strong hosted her stay while she worked for the newspaper. Ms. Strong was a formidable leader in the news industry.


She makes friends with many people working and living in the city during the political tension.
Luba is a Ukrainian student assigned to a subdivided apartment where her friend Victor can often be found. Milly enjoyed drinking and dancing at the local clubs. She spends a lot of her evenings out with Luba and Victor where she eventually meets Zhenya Ivanova who works as an opera singer at the theatre.

The attraction between Milly and Zhenya is compelling yet unconventional. Their whirlwind romance leads to a marriage of convenience as they never live with each other. He continues to reside with his mother Olga until he is suddenly arrested. Milly is distraught and works hard to get her husband released from prison. Controversy and rumors explode regarding the circumstances of Zhenya’s arrest.

This was a truly informative novel providing insight into the life of a strong female in history. Her life was filled with many ups and downs but remarkable during the time period in which she lived.

Millie Bennett is a jet setting, free-spirited journalist in the 1930's. Millie has covered events in San Francisco, Hawaii and war in China. Now, she is in Moscow working for the Moscow Daily News. Millie mostly covers fluff stories and works on translations. However, Millie longs to write stories of the effects of socialism , stories that matter. Millie is able to experience firsthand the issues that arise with the system of government when her Russian husband, Zhenya is arrested. Millie assumes that his arrest is due to a story she wrote and desperately tries to get him out. However, when it is revealed that Zhenya was arrested for lewd behavior, Millie reveals more secrets about her marriage as well as the government.

Salt the Snow introduced me to the fascinating life of the first female war corespondent, Millie Bennett. I never would have imagined that there were female war corespondents in the 1930's, much less one like Millie! I was pulled into her vivacious character in the very first scene with her arrival home from a party. Carrie Callaghan's writing brings 1930's Moscow to life, as despondent as it may be. Millie's spirit never seemed to fit in with the setting. She always seemed to be a bright and animated character in a dreary and repressed place. In the first half of the story, the writing bounces back and forth between before Zhenya was arrested and after before settling into a linear timeline. I found the first half of the story interesting, but not exciting. I was curious about Millie's interactions with the government, especially the police as well as the conditions for the rest of the population in Moscow. I was also questioning whether or not Millie truly realized her husbands secret or was simply hiding it from herself. The pace picked up a bit for me as Millie actions attracted the attention of the police and she decided that what had happened to Zhenya as well as herself needed to be documented, even if it could not be published for a while. From Moscow, Millie escaped to Spain, I wish her story would have been continued there!

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Wild crazy story of war correspondent Milly Bennett in the Soviet Union during 1930's. Story touches of Milly and her work and her husband during the 30's in Moscow. Closer look at the socialist times and the secret police.

Thank you for NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

In Carrie Callaghan’s Salt the Snow, the author shines the spotlight on bold American reporter, Milly Bennett. She likes her men and her drink, and she isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Milly’s also a sensitive idealist at heart, whose world unravels the moment her husband is arrested by the secret police. Rich in detail and carefully researched, Callaghan takes the reader on Bennett’s adventures in 1930s Russia and later to the Spanish Civil War, where Milly faces adversity on all fronts—in her career, in love, in her independence. Salt the Snow is historical fiction at its best.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy for an honest review.

Salt the Snow is the story of Milly Bennett, a female war correspondent who ends up in Moscow after the revolution. It's cold, it's challenging, and a hard place to be a female journalist, but Milly persists. When her husband is arrested and sent to a camp, Milly has to navigate the bizarre and labyrinth system so so called justice in an attempt to get him freed.

Milly's story is an interesting one, and Carrie Callaghan writing had me feeling the cold Russian winter, the indifference of Russian bureaucrats and the strong need to drown one's sorrows in vodka. But I didn't find Milly that sympathetic of a character; quite often she is her own worst enemy. As a result, Salt the Snow was a mixed bag for me, not a must read.

This book was hard to get into and I didn't feel a connection to the main character until the book was almost over. The writing towards the end is noticeably better than the beginning.

Salt the Snow follows the story of American journalist Milly Bennett…who is living in Moscow in the 1930’s working for the Moscow Daily News. She marries a Russian man, named Zheyna, while she living there and he is arrested by the secret police. Milly learns that she may not have know everything about the man she married and about the country she calls home.

Thoughts:
this book was rather slow to get through. There’s not a ton that goes on in this book and when the action does come…it comes in small burst. Maybe that normal for historical fiction and i’m just not use to it because I don’t read that genre often. I don’t know but it was slow slow slow.
The parts of the book that do pick up were interesting and I really did enjoy reading it. Especially when Milly went to Spain
The first part of the book does alternating time lines between Milly first arriving in Russia and meeting her husband and Milly “present day” dealing with trying to free her husband and finding out why he was imprisoned. I feel that once we found out Zheyna’s storyline it was a little anticlimactic.
It was super hard to like Milly as a person. She sleeps around, has affairs with married men and is a huge supporter of Communism (socialism).

Overall it was an ok book and I’m really bummed that I didn’t enjoy it more.


*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!*
*I received an eARC in exchange for a honest review*

With America in the midst of the depression, and in the wake of a failed marriage, Milly Bennett, a journalist, is running away from her San Francisco home. After having reported on murders from her hometown, fires in Hawaii, and war in China, her next stop is Moscow. There, Milly wants to be witness to the reality of the Bolsheviks, Communists and both local and international idealists in the reality of post-revolution Soviet Russia. But when her Russian husband is arrested for homosexuality and sent to Siberia for five years, Milly isn’t sure what her next move should be. Should she stay in Russia, where she can’t really report the truth to the world, or follow her reporter’s instinct to cover another war in Spain?

Yes, there really was a woman called Milly Bennett (nee Mildred Jacqueline Bremler), and yes, she really did all these things, and many consider her to be the first female war correspondent. When I asked for this book, I had no idea that this was the case, and only discovered this when I was almost finished reading this novel. Well, my regular readers know that a good biographical, historical, women’s fiction book is totally ME, especially if it is about an unknown or little-known woman who fought the gender barrier and succeeded – much like the character in her debut novel, “A Light of Her Own” about the Dutch painter Judith Leyster.
By the way, when I went searching for more information about Bennett I found someone published Bennett’s memoir “On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from San Francisco to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-27” (hence the title of this review), just over 30 years after her death in 1960. Callaghan, however, decided to devote her biographical novel about Milly to the years 1931 through 1938 – when she worked at an English newspaper in Soviet Russia and then for the AP and international press during the Spanish Civil War. Since Milly had already chronicled her earlier life, telling a bit more of the story was a brilliant idea.

Essentially, I think that Callaghan really did her justice. From Callaghan’s portrayal we discover a woman who was very much ahead of her time (sorry for the cliché – but in this case, it works), who was tough, and sexually aware, and could probably drink many people under the table – even when imbibing the most typical Russian tipple, Vodka. However, Callaghan also draws her as a vulnerable woman, one who knows her weaknesses, but strives to overcome them, or at the very least, repress them when she believes the greater good is at stake for her to do so. Mind you, this highly principled woman isn’t the most likeable of characters, but I don’t think that she was meant to be as such. However, despite this, we grow to sympathize and yes, even empathize with Milly, as she steers through bureaucracy and dodges bullets and bombs. What you’ll learn most of all about Milly is that even in the face of harsh reality, she was still optimistic that her ideals – given the chance – could change the world for the better.

If there’s one thing that I might criticize about this novel is Callaghan’s decision to include the part of Milly’s life where she goes to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War against Fascism. It isn’t that these parts of the book weren’t fascinating, because they were. This section also gave us even more insight into who this woman really was on a more personal level. Despite this, I have to admit that the Spanish parts felt very different from the Russian ones – as if we had a novel plus a short story here. The two parts just didn’t feel smoothly connected. On the other hand, this does go to show how talented Callaghan is in creating an atmosphere with her prose. The parts in Russia felt dire and cold, while the Spanish scenes (even during the winter) felt brighter, if not harshly heated and glaring. Which works for a war-torn country, to be honest.

All of this is why I’m so glad that the publishers gave me the ARC for this novel (although it would have been nice if they had sent their approval with more lead time than just a week before the release date. It is right there in my profile that I’m a slow reader because of my mild dyslexia), because overall, it was beautifully written, with such grace and emotion. I’m certain that Callaghan loved Milly and with that level of admiration, I her portrayal of this female pioneer in journalism was simply splendid. For all this, I believe the most appropriate rating for this novel is four and a half stars out of five, and I’m certain that lovers of historical, biographical, women’s fiction will truly enjoy this book as much as I did.

Salt the Snow was an Interesting and educational novel about revolutions in Russia and Spain. Milly was an interesting character. Undoubtably professionally driven yet she seemed lost at times in her personal life.

I would describe the plot as staccato - jumping from chapter to chapter with no rational segue. I sometimes found myself looking back to see if I had missed a paragraph or a phrase that led me to the next scene.

'With that said, I found myself engaged with Milly's situations, conflicts, and relationships. Overall an enjoyable read.

I am so conflicted on this book. I love that Milly is based on a true character, and I also enjoyed the author's writing style. It felt so smart and readable all at once. I love that she was a strong woman in the 1930s, working in a man's world, solo, and in Soviet Russia no less!

But... I hated that she threw herself at married women. I didn't like that she continually put herself down because of her physical appearance. I had a hard time with her defense of socialism (communism). And overall, I didn't find much of a "why" to root for her in love or success, because the author didn't spell it out.

As a real person, I'm sure Milly was captivating. You would have had to be in that time. But in the book, something was off. I did really enjoy branching out of my usual historical fiction norms and heading towards Russia instead of WWII Europe. I would read another book by this author for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is for my historical fiction fans, especially those interested in Russia after the Russian Revolutions and a bit more info on the Spanish War. I had really high expectations for this book. It's based on a real women and I love good stories about strong women before their time. However, this book fell a little flat for me, mainly because it was more character driven than plot driven. I'm more into plot driven books so that's already a negative for me.
While I thought Callaghan's writing was lovely, there were a few instances I just couldn't find to be believable about Milly. Her constant lack of confidence and point out her physical flaw are unrealistic to me. Maybe that's how she really was, but a women traveling around the world, writing in a man's world, should have a bigger spine than that in my opinion.
Callaghan did mention in her notes that Bennett had quite a few lovers, which I believe. I don't believe she continually threw herself at men and justified her self worth by her lovers. I just can't see a late 30 year old women in the 30's doing that. Once again, maybe she did fall in love easier, maybe she did let them sway her, I just didn't find it believable.
I did really enjoy getting a view into Communist Russia after their Civil War but before the Cold War. I think they're is a lot of history there and I do love Russian history. I also thought it was interesting that Bennett fully believed in the Communist party. She fully felt they were the answer to a better society and she fought to tell their stories in both Russia and during the Spanish Civil War. As an American, we mainly hear stories from an anti-communist perspective and while I don't necessarily agree with communism I find I value hearing about it from another's perspective. Seems there were quite a few Americans, British, and other citizen's who really believed in the cause and were willing to fight in a civil war that wasn't even for their country.
Overall, this was a ★★★ read. I wanted to like it more, but I felt the story could have been told more impactfully. I don't regret reading it, as it's peaked my curiosity into why young American women were heading to Soviet Russia, but it's not something I would recommend.
I love to google historical fiction books, especially women and I stumbled upon an articular from UT's (University of Texas' College of Liberal Arts magazine) that perfectly mirrors a lot of my own thoughts while reading this book. I highly recommend reading the whole article if you're interested in gaining more information around the appeal of Soviet Russia to young American women, for the link head to my blog speakingof.org.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Salt the Snow. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thanks to Netgallery for my advanced copy of the book.

I was so excited to get approved for Salt the Snow. I’ve decided to branch out of my usual YA genre in NetGalley and check out some of the historical fiction. I am so glad I did. I got approved for some awesome books I was excited about and Salt the Snow was one of them.

This story is based on the life of Milly Bennett, who was an American journalist who worked all over the world. She went from America to Moscow to cover the start of socialism and the fascist group there. She then makes her way to Spain to cover the Civil War there. It is a very crazy life for a journalist at this time and especially for a woman.

Although I enjoyed the historical side of this story, I never really connected to Milly. One reason I don’t stray too far from YA is because of the content in it. Not saying YA is clean and squeaky, it can be far from it, but I didn’t love how Milly didn’t care at all about being with married men. I also couldn’t connect to her because she annoyed me at times. I wanted to skip over parts of her falling sorry for herself. But at times when things were looking up for her, I really was happy for her.

I enjoyed the setting of this book a lot. Being in different countries during these trying times was so interesting to me. Here in the last year, I have appreciated historical fiction more than I used to.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars. I wanted to like it more, but I just didn’t have it in me. I still recommend this book because of how interesting it was, but understand if some just can’t connect to it.

Set primarily in 1930s Moscow, this book and the main character, journalist Milly Bennet, share a sort of bleak optimism rarely afforded the Soviets from the American perspective. Befitting the tumultuous time period, the book is written with a kind of quiet but hectic uncertainty that leaves the reader with questions unanswered, as did history itself. Before reading this book I had never heard of Milly Bennet. I had no idea she was a real person, and such a trailblazer in the field of journalism. I am not convinced that this had anything to do with her call to write so much as her desperation to find herself. Reading about her I couldn't help but pity her, as her pain was so apparent, though we never really find the real root of it. I was disappointed in her morality and her constant need for male approval, but such were the times I suppose. I would have loved for this book to have further expanded upon the struggles that the Russians were experiencing at the time; while the housing and food shortages and such are mentioned in passing, I feel like more detail and explanation would have helped to provide some depth to the story. Honestly I think that this book would have been much better if it switched perspectives with Zhenya and detailed his life and experiences as a Citizen and Criminal in the eyes of the State. The way it is written leaves Milly's story seeming very one dimensional and self centered. Milly's time in Spain toward the end of the book was slightly more interesting to me, but overall this book was kind of slow and steady. A lot was happening at the time but not much happens in the book itself.

This book was okay. I liked that it was set in Russia, but I found it a bit sad. The main character never seemed to have anything good happen to her. I'm not sure if I would reccomend this or not honestly.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This is my first book by this author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

It wasn’t until the end that I realised that this book was based on a real life woman. To be honest I didn’t care for this book and that had different reasons.

in the first part of the book the story goes back and forward in time, but since the time difference it only 3 years it just drags you out of the story. For me it would have worked better if the story was told lineair.

Millie was a characters I didn’t care or cold connect for. She herself doesn’t seem to know what she wants and she annoyed me a lot.

While I read the book I couldn’t really tell you what the story was about. It didn’t really hold my interest. It is a time of history I don’t know much about, so maybe I was just looking for more details about what happened.