I have an on-again/off-again love affair with spy/intelligence novels. I felt that the book was too dry in the first half and was just starting to build up in the second half. I found it disappointing because I wanted Rina to be more pro-active in covert operations than she actually was. After all, that's what builds up the excitement!

Rina's husband strikes me as an over-ambitious man who is very absorbed in his own work that he fails to see the silent cries for help from his wife. She had two kids in very quick succession and I think she felt overwhelmed. I'm no doctor, but I feel fairly confident that she had post-partum depression or the baby blues. In this particular era, I know that women were expected to be "perfect wives" and "darling mothers." To have depression or "a mental problem" is taboo in this era. You were basically expected to "suck it up, Buttercup." I wonder if this complete disregard for women's health may be one of the major underlying reasons why divorce became more prevalent.

I love her desire to help her country in a time of great pressure. The interaction between Rina and her society friends is wonderful. I could visualize the galas, dinners, and drinking occasions very clearly. The interaction with her fellow covert operatives was also executed well.

Overall, I think the story is good, but I feel that we could have seen more spy action and a little less home drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for reaching out to me about this book.

Outside appearances can both reveal and deceive. No one truly knows what goes on behind closed doors as Katharina knows well. Before marrying Tom, a doctor from a wealthy family, she was fiercely independent and worked at the UN as a translator. But now she is an unfulfilled mother of two young energetic sons, bending to others' whims, losing her self. In 1950 New York City women are expected to stay at home with their children without complaint.

When the opportunity comes to secretly work with the FBI, Katharina briefly hesitates before plunging in. Consequently, lie after lie, cover up after cover up become part of life. Deceit, sorrow, romance, betrayal and gratitude flood this interesting book, contributing to twists all over the place.

Historical Fiction book lovers will get caught up in the plots. I liked the spying premise and time period's wonderful descriptions. The characters were maddening but it's not necessary to like them to enjoy the book.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this enthralling read in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.

Check your blood pressure before you start reading. Don’t attempt to read if it’s elevated because Karin Tanabe’s, “A Woman of Intelligence” to be published July 20, 2021, will cause it to skyrocket!

If you were raised to be a strong independent woman as I was, you’ll love to hate Tom Edgeworth. He may be wealthy, good looking and charming, but his 1950s outlook will have you gritting your teeth and pounding your chair. How did women survive in this era? When he first meets Katharina (Rina) he claims that she is “nothing like Daisy and Rose and Violet and all the other women [his] mom has tried to set [him] up with who were named after flowers yet have no roots, just petals that will wilt fast.” You get a sense that he loves her for her intelligence and because she is different from the average 1940s woman. Falling in love with Tom, she trades titles, Miss West for Mrs. Edgeworth, and acquires a Fifth Avenue address, parties at the Plaza, two healthy sons and a hard-working pediatric surgeon. What looks like a perfect life becomes Katharina’s nightmare.

Katharina’s boss at the U.N. asks her to resign because of her pregnancy; her “appearance is distracting” and he can’t figure out why she is still working. Embarrassed, her husband urges her to stop working, causing Katharina to angrily retort “the only professional goal you want me to attain is the permanent shedding of my ambitions.” The ivy-league-educated New Yorker who can speak four languages is “mourning that life” that she once had. Rina tells a friend that her “mind no longer fizzed with intellectual rigour; it bubbled with boredom.” She can’t understand how women around her are fulfilled with motherhood. Having spent her days as a translator at the newly-formed United Nations, she finds it difficult to fit into the post-war societal constraints. It's obvious Rina loves her boys; she's a good mother. She just needs to spread her wings and access some academic stimulation. Anxious to escape for a night out with friends, Rina loses it when her husband tells her what time to return and that he doesn’t want her drinking.

When she’s approached by the FBI to become an informant and infiltrate the social circle of a high-level Soviet spy, Katherina jumps at the opportunity to regain control of her life and find a purpose outside of motherhood. Organizing babysitters for the boys and stealthily slipping into another world, Katharina assumes the name Hanna Graf. How ironic that she needs to shed a surname such as Edgeworth to secretly live on the edge and feel a sense of worth!

You’ll love this fast-paced spy-thriller expertly woven with the female experience of post-war II New York City. Tanabe expertly shares the stifling female experience and equips readers with a better understanding of the societal shift as women’s roles were being redefined. You’ll love watching the protagonist blossom as she determines not to let her circumstances extinguish the real Katharina Edgeworth.

Thank you Karin Tanabe, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe is a fascinating historical fiction novel that takes place in the early 1950s in NYC. In a post-war city, the new threat of communism has surfaced.

One of my favorite modern time-periods to research and read about falls along the 1950s decade. All of the change, the society balancing precariously between trying to return to how things were pre-WWII, and how things are inevitably shifting to a new society and new roles for women and men. Things are not the same, but everyone is just starting to realize this. (Also, I beyond love the fashion, but that is a whole different conversation.)

This book ties both of these concepts together in the story of wife/mother/shell of her former self, Katharina and the undercover espionage role she is hired to do by the FBI in trying to find and discover if certain watched individuals are secretly communist and trading information with Russia.

The struggle between what is expected of Katharina by society, her husband, and her children and what she feels she needs to do to validate her training, education, and self-worth is what unfolds within this book.

Katharina is imperfect, reflecting her inner turmoil outwards. She tries to balance both lives, keeping each hidden and separate from the other. Sometimes she puts herself first. Sometimes she detests where life has led her. Sometimes she feels bitter, smothered, and helpless. By taking this hidden job, she tries to find her purpose, a higher need, some aspect of control in otherwise a powerless, she feels, daily routine.
Is she right in her feelings? Does she not fall short in expectations and her roles? That is for the reader to decide. If she was a saint, flawless, and above reproach, I would find her one-dimensional and boring. Her imperfections make her interesting, make her who she is. Her quest to find that herself is what I like most about this book.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this great ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 7/20/21.

A WOMAN OF INTELLIGENCE
BY KARIN TANABE

This was a historical novel that takes place in New York City in the early 1950's. Rina Edgeworth is married to her rich husband Tom who is also married to his job as a pediatric surgeon. He comes from old money and he thinks his wife should be doing a better job as a mother of two young children, Gerrit and Peter. While Rina is in the park one day with both boys Gerrit runs off and falls down and cuts his knee on some broken glass. Rina freezes and Tom thinks that Rina is not doing a good job at being a mother. He thinks that she drinks too much and I could feel the oppression of women's expected roles in the early fifties.

Rina is approached to be an informant from a man in the FBI supplying information about a former boyfriend of hers who the agent suspects that he is working for the Soviet Union. Rina is a woman who used to work for the United Nations with a graduate degree and speaks several languages.

I could feel the need in Rina to want to be more than just a wife and mother as she yearns to serve her country. She was leading a double life from her job as an informant by not telling her husband. I thought that the author did a fantastic job at creating an atmosphere of what life was like to be stifled in the era that this historical novel takes place.

Personally, this wasn't a compelling read for me as I found it dry in places while reading. I did appreciate the authenticity of the era. I could appreciate the setting but I didn't find this novel to be complicated and though I appreciate that communism was a threat and that there were American's working in high ranking jobs trading secrets with Russia, this was made evident in the plot. I wanted to like this more but honestly it just wasn't for me. Other's may really love this more than I did so I am recommending it to women who enjoy historical fiction with an interest in communism. Also I think the novel was ambitious in its scope and the narrative took on many themes. I like Rina's character as a strong woman but I found the things that she did hard to relate to. I am reflecting how important raising my children were to me and I couldn't relate to her as a mother. I do appreciate that her husband was never home and that she needed to fill that void by becoming an informant to the FBI. As a mother I was satisfied raising my children so I couldn't connect to her always leaving her two young children to leading a double life and always sneaking out to work undercover. This was an ambitious novel that I am sure will appeal to many women.

Publication Date: July 20, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Karen Tanabe and St. Martin's for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#AWomanofIntelligence #KarenTanabe #StMartin's #NetGalley

This was my first book by Karin Tanabe and I thought it was an engrossing read. I was particularly impressed with the amount of accurate historical detail that was provided. The build up to the most exciting part of the story was well done, and while there wasn’t always a lot going on in the initial part of the book, it was never a slow read. I thought the characters were multidimensional with some fantastic characteristics but also some petty, self centered moments. All believable given the 1950s setting, particularly regarding Katharina’s character.

Full review to come on my blog closer to publication date.

I love Tanabe’s novels. They’re detailed and she provides such a rich backstory for her characters that the reader truly gets to know each one. She spends a great deal of time setting up the story before delving into the conflict and meat of the plot. It makes for a wonderful story each time. With that being said, this was the first time I found myself not liking the main character. She was selfish, deceitful, and immature. This made me not crazy about the story as a whole, as I didn’t connect with Rina or her overall issues with being a mother. Nonetheless, it’s a worthwhile read and I did enjoy the overall premise.