I couldn’t get into this story. It’s not the author’s fault, sometimes the reader and the story aren’t in sync.

Bone chilling, tough but a very compulsive read. A book that's difficult but must be read! I love historical fiction and although it's painful at times, it also brings in the depth of pain and the trials and tribulations of the people during the war times! Thanks Net Galley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, History Through Pages, & IBPA for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

It's always weird to say you "liked" or "really enjoyed" a book about wartime and oppression, so let's just say instead that I was deeply moved at the story Alina Adams created in My Mother's Secret, and that I was blown away by the attention to historical detail and very interested in learning more about the JAR after finishing - because prior to reading this synopsis I had not heard of it. Once. Not even a mention.

The only aspects of the book that I "liked" rather than "really liked / loved" were Dialogue & Pacing - I felt like I was being told certain things about how the characters felt vs shown through their words, and sometimes the pacing felt the tiniest bit slow in places and too fast in others.

THAT BEING SAID, I finished this book over a week ago and can 100% tell you that those ^ two things, while true, are not going to be what sits with me long term when I tell people about this book.

I was drawn into the story pretty much from the very first page, and had a hard time setting this book down as I kept reading. Although it is dual timeline, the great majority of the book takes place in the Soviet Union, roughly from 1920-1945. I already knew a fair amount about the USSR during that timeframe, but reading about it in this book made some of it feel like I was learning everything again for the first time.

And as for the JAR (or Jewish Autonomous Region), I most certainly was. I am incredibly grateful for the author's detailed "Fact from Fiction" / Author's Note at the end of the book - I will for sure be going through some of the resources she listed to learn more on my own!

(And that, my friends, is the beauty of a well-written historical fiction novel.)

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This was a fascinating, but upsetting, story about the Jewish Autonomous Region in the USSR in the 1930s. The Region was established by Stalin in a most inhospitable area near the Chinese border. Although advertised to have fertile land and great climate, none of that was true.

We follow 18-year old Regina as she escapes Moscow and goes to the promised land...Birobidzhan! The reader learns about the hardships and challenges, including those of living under the "democratic" policies of a dictatorship. Everyone must agree with the leader or face imprisonment, expulsion, or worse!

It is not all bleak as the story does have elements of love and tender moments. There are friends and lovers who try to protect each other.

My Mother's Secret is both horrifying and heartwarming. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to future Alina Adams' books.

A historical fiction story with strong characters and a well thought out plot. The author takes the reader on a journey through time and gives the reader a glimpse into a part of historical event, a few may have not known about. Regina is a great character. The story is wonderfully written and the author is a talented storyteller.


Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and History Through Fiction LLC , I received review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I listened to a podcast interview with Alina Adams about the release of this book and decided to give a try. I was skeptical because the market right now is flooded with WWII and Russian stories, and an increasing number of them are mediocre at best.

In my opinion this is not mediocre. The writing is good, and the story moves at a decent pace. This is not a Russia- WWII story that is full of heart break and tragedy, though it easily could have been. My one biggest issue was the part where Regina follows Aaron to a Stalag with her daughter in tow. What? It seems to be a stretch, but hey it made for an interesting plot line. And in a well written, engaging story I will let it pass.

When I read historical fiction, and I read a lot of it, I look for engaging stories, accurate historical research, and I hope to learn something (if not from the book itself, in whatever google search it might send me down). This was all of those things. I learned about the Jewish Autonomous region, and let me just say that was an interesting google hole. Reading about the climate of the region alone made me wonder why anyone would have thought it was a decent place to try to carve out an agricultural existence. (I say that from my cushy windswept Kansas home). And in that podcast interview Alina Adams continuously stated that she likes to write what she knows. Its pretty clear she knows about the fear, secrecy, racism's, of Soviet Russia. She has a good understanding of the cultural differences between immigrant Russian families and Americans, and she clearly knows what it was like to escape the Soviet Union, and then return after 1988 to an questionable and distrustful atmosphere.

Because Alina Adams knows about these things, I hope she writes more, I certainly plan to read The Nesting Dolls.

Thank you Netgalley and Alina Adams for the ARC of this. And I am so sorry I didn't get to it before the release day. I will surely be recommending this to people and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Calling my historical fiction fam!!!!

I'm telling you that since the book started if there's one person I could hate was Vadik and how absurd Lena sounded when defending his abuse. But this book isn't about this so I moved on hahaha.... the way we get to read about Socialism in this book is something I never read before and it made me feel incredibly lucky to be able to read it. The way the Soviet Union was acting against people and how they literally brainwashed so many people and got rid of thousands!!!

I really enjoyed the way the author described and made me feel inside the communist USSR. The way people inside used to see it and live it. Not from someone against it but someone who learned to believe it was for the best. The life in Birobidzhan and the big lie it was and how it was presented to Jews in the USSR.

This is a book that felt important and that helped me learn so so much!!! It's raw but not in a way that makes people feel like they can't keep reading, in that way, it felt like a pretty light HF book. I never read a book like this before and felt amazing to learn so many new things. The writer really did her research and you can tell her family lived many of this things firsthand and that she dedicated a lot of time to really honor people who lived all this.

You also follow a beautiful but hard love story. Friendships. Humanity. Humbleness. Strength. Destiny. Bravery.

What do you think of this quote
..... "individuality is insurgency" ????

Thank you to netgalley, publisher and author for the arc of this book!!! I'm honored that I was able to read it.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

Leaving 1930s Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Regina hopes to join like-minded young people to work and support themselves on fertile land in Birobidzhan. Arriving, she finds herself on her own, having to go through harsh weather and little food, making it a struggle to survive. Interesting look at a little known (to me) part of pre-WWII history.

MY MOTHER’S SECRET: A NOVEL OF THE JEWISH AUTONOMOUS REGION BY ALINA ADAMS
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
History Through Fiction LLC

Genre: Historical Fiction

With his dying breath, Lena‘s father asks his family a cryptic question: “You couldn’t tell, could you?” After his passing, Lena stumbles upon the answer that changes her life forever.

As her revolutionary neighbor mysteriously disappears during Josef Stalin’s Great Terror purges, 18-year-old Regina suspects that she’s the Kremlin’s next target. Under cover of the night, she flees from her parents’ communal apartment in 1930s Moscow to the 20th century’s first Jewish state, Birobidzhan, on the border between Russia and China. Once there, Regina has to grapple with her preconceived notions of socialism and Judaism while asking herself the eternal question: What do we owe each other? How can we best help one another? While she contends with these queries and struggles to help Birobidzhan establish itself, love and war are on the horizon.

New York Times Bestselling author Alina Adams draws on her own experiences as a Jewish refugee from Odessa, USSR as she provides readers a rare glimpse into the world’s first Jewish Autonomous Region. My Mother’s Secret is rooted in detailed research about a little known chapter of Soviet and Jewish history while exploring universal themes of identity, love, loss, war, and parenthood. Readers can expect a whirlwind journey as Regina finds herself and her courage within one of the century’s most tumultuous eras.

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | BOOKSHOP.ORG | INDIEBOUND

“This book is basically split into three parts; the present where we are introduced to Lena and the main character Regina, her mum, starts and ends the story. The past is split into two; following Regina’s time in Birobidzhan and then her time in a German Prisoner of War camp.” - Rachel

My mothers’ secret
About the author: New York Times best-selling author, soap opera insider, and pioneer in online storytelling, Alina Adams, was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated with her parents to the U.S. at age seven, where she learned English by watching American soap operas at their home in San Francisco. Alina's childhood and immigration experience was the inspiration for her two latest historical fiction novels, "The Nesting Dolls" (2020), and "My Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region" (2022).
So here I am, with no knowledge of this author or her books, and reading the name Birobidzhan for the first time. I must admit I have somewhat of an interest in the history of Russia because of the many famous composers, painters and authors, but I always tried to stay clear of delving too deep in the political history of this country. I’ve learned a lot from this book, both about Jewish and Russian history, and about unexpected resilience.
Regina Solomonova is only 18 when she has to flee her home in Moscow and ends up in Birobidzhan, a place she wanted to go to from the moment she heard of it. After all, what’s there for her in Moscow, living with her parents in one small room of what was once their home? The rest of the property is filled with strangers because that’s what happened in the Sovjet Union in the 1930’s. You were not supposed to have more than other people and now the thought of how the family once had need of a live-in maid and a ‘ linen room’ (why would you own more than one set?) is absurd.
Reading about Regina’s journey to Birobidzhan alone gave me chills, and not only because she was travelling in very cold weather. Only the thought that she would be safe there, far from prying eyes and among likeminded people, kept her going. After all, when you’re young and strong and filled with the best intentions to make something of your life so you can help others, what can go wrong? Well, a lot of things went wrong with the idea’s of Stalin and the like, and Regina can see it, but she cannot believe it. All her young life it was drilled into her that if you follow the rules, and be obedient, you will have a happy and fulfilling life.
So Regina sets to work – she has to help harvest barley in the freezing cold of autumn. There are no tools; she and all the other workers have to use their hands. When she questions this, the answer is that Birobidzhan was equipped with all the tools they would need. Only they are not there. And this is only the first thing Regina has to wrap her mind around. The way she has to live – no decent food, no decent clothing, nothing to do but work, work, work and be careful with what you think and say. Because fleeing Moscow didn’t make life any safer as she hoped. On the contrary; almost everything Regina thinks, says and does could lead to severe punishment.
A large part of the book is filled with quotes from Stalin, and it still boggles the mind why people would believe all that – especially people who can actually see that it’s not working. Regina is often between a rock and a hard place, because the only person she feels attracted to in the camp is Aaron Kramer, a young man with (sometimes dangerous) ideas, and Felix, the commander of the camp. The parts where all inhabitants have to meet weekly to offer ideas (they don’t have the courage) or criticise themselves and others (they are very much afraid of the repercussions) belong to he best parts in the book because they are very, very tense.
As said in the numerous reviews before this one, Regina follows Aaron to the front and then to the POW camps where he’s being held by the Nazis. This too, is a very intense part of the story.
The books ends on a happy note, at the end of the 1980’s. Despite that I felt sad after reading it because we all know what happened in later years, and in fact is still happening. I’m very happy I got to read this book and I cannot recommend it enough.
Thanks to Netgalley for this review copy.

"Mama rarely wanted Lena to know anything...never inquired how she was feeling or what she was thinking...Mama didn't care enough to bother." "Mom had promised...Lena never knew until now." Going through Dad's dental office records after his death, Lena unearthed three files of letters, newspaper clippings and "the fates of Soviet WWII veterans in general, one veteran in particular." For 4o years, Lena's father had been trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Aaron Kramer."

Eighteen year old Regina "trusted the wrong people listened to the wrong voices...she needed to sneak out like a thief" to avoid becoming a victim of Stalin's Purge. Hurriedly, she purchased a train ticket to leave Moscow, failing to acquire resettlement authorization. If only she could make it to Birobidzhan. In 1930, Josef Stalin had created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (district) in the former Soviet Far East between the USSR and Manchuria. Posters had abounded with the promise of fertile land. Birobidzhan was touted as a pioneering community, an independent, thriving Jewish socialist state, where Yiddish was taught in school...". Jews were being convinced "to relocate to the furthest eastern point on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, where they would be safe, out of the way..". Immerging from an eight-day railroad journey from Moscow, Regina stepped ankle deep into a swampy, unplowed field.

Having lived in a communal apartment in 1930s Moscow, "you could believe someone was your compatriot-your friend-for years. Then, in the space of a single knock on the door, everything could fall apart." Who could Regina trust? It was no different in Birobidzhan. The head of the Village Soviet claimed equal distribution, however, farming tools, seed and cattle promised by Moscow were not forthcoming. If production quotas were met, why were workers covered in festering bug bites, wearing shredded clothing and living a substandard existence? Aaron Kramer, whose sector had the most productive yield, dared to suggest crop rotation and the need for additional workers. By unanimous vote, the idea was struck down by Felix, the Commandant of the Village Soviet. Regina found herself between a rock and a hard place. "...agreeing with Felix would protect her. Agreeing with Aaron would expose her. "

After a silent lack of compliance with Felix's principles, Aaron Kramer was shipped to the Eastern Front to fight against the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Regina followed, walking hundreds of miles through enemy territory with her newborn, Lena, cradled in a sling. She arrived at the German POW camp where Aaron was imprisoned. Claiming she was a widowed Polish citizen with a newborn, she insisted that her nursing skills were needed at the camp. Regina, with nerves of steel and a poker face. Aaron was enraged. Why did she follow him and endanger her safety and the well being of the baby?

"My Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous Region" by Alina Adams is a historical fiction read of the 2oth Century's first Jewish Autonomous Region, a lesser known area of Jewish settlement. Author Adams adeptly presents a novel of love, resilience and amazing determination against the backdrop of Soviet-German wartime encounters as well as the unsettling treatment of Soviet POWs by the Germans and the Soviet Government itself after the war. Highly recommended.

Thank you History Through Fiction and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really good book. The plot was well-written and engrossing. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Readers who love reading about little known bits of history will enjoy delving into this story. Readers will follow Regina as she flees the Kremlin to the first Jewish Autonomous Region on the borders of China and Russia. Regina becomes a slave laborer, refugee and finally a prisoner of war. Fascinating story!

An engaging and fascinating story written by Alina Adams building on her own experiences as a Jewish refugee from USSR and what must have been extensive research into the subject. Imagine if all history lessons were this engaging!

I was amazed by the strength and determination showed by Regina throughout the story, her never wavering optimism and drive to keep on going and creating a better life for herself.

Huge THANK YOU you to Alina Adams for a truly fantastic book, and to History Through Fiction & NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Along with many others who have read this novel, I have never heard of the Jewish Autonomous Region...an area created in the Soviet Union between Siberia and China. This was an interesting book as I learned about things I'd never heard of before. A journey of self-sacrifice and determination, it is a story of historical fiction not to be missed.

My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams was an engrossing and compelling historical fiction novel. Alina Adams used her personal knowledge of having grown up Jewish in the Soviet Union, having had immigrated to the United States and her extensive masterful research to write about the Soviet Union in the years prior to, during and after World War II. The thing that I love about reading historical fiction most is learning about things that I had not previously known about. Alina Adams accomplished that for me in her latest book, My Mother’s Secret. She introduced me to the existence of Birobidzhan, the first Jewish Autonomous region that was created on May 7, 1934 by Russia. Its location was situated on the border that Russia shared with China. Birobidzhan was created for the purpose of giving Jews from all over the world a place to live a peaceful life that was “socialist in content and national in form”. The Soviet government lured Jews to Birobidzhan through pamphlets that contained enough propaganda to make Birobidzhan seem way more desirable than it actually was. It was located not too far from the Trans-Siberian Railway. Its inhabitants practiced collective farming but the harsh weather conditions made both farming and life very difficult there. Although the government wanted to portray Birobidzhan as a socialist utopia, it was far from actually being that. Alina Adams also portrayed what it was like to live in the Soviet Union under Stalin’s Terror reign during the 1930’s. She also exposed how Soviet POW prisoners were treated in the camps the Nazis established. My Mother’s Secret was well plotted and offered much insight into a side of World War II and Russian history that I was not aware of. Her extensive research was impeccable.

My Mother’s Secret was about Regina Solomonova’s journey. It was about a journey that ultimately led her to be able to unburden her secrets and reveal them to her daughter. These were secrets that she had kept hidden for so long but it was finally time to share them with her daughter. Regina and Lena had just returned from the hospital where Tommy, Lena’s father and Regina’s husband had just died. Lena and her husband drove Regina home. Lena chose to stay with her mother instead of going to her own home. She did not feel comfortable leaving her mother alone at a time like this. Lena and her mother never had a close or warm relationship but Lena felt compelled to be with her mother at this pivotal time in both of their lives. Both of them started to go through Tommy’s things to keep busy and keep their minds off his passing. Lena went down to her father’s dental office so she could begin to shred old bills and patient information when she found correspondence her father had written. These inquiring letters, that Lena discovered were written to members of Congress and diplomats, spanned over the past forty years. They all inquired about a Soviet vet named Aaron Kramer. Lena could not imagine who this man was and why her father had spent over forty years trying to gather information about him and his whereabouts. When Regina suddenly appeared at the door of Tommy’s office, Lena asked her mother who Aaron Kramer was and if she knew why her father had been searching for him for the last forty years? For the first time in Lena’s life, her mother started to recount her life for her daughter and share the secrets she had harbored for so long. Regina started telling her daughter about her life, things she had not spoken about to Lena ever before. Once Regina began she could not stop. Regina shared everything about her life with her daughter. She began in Moscow, told her why and how she began living in Birobidzhan, explained how she ended up working in a Nazi POW camp and finally how she met Tommy, married him and came to live in America. Lena listened intently. She finally got to see a side of her mother she never knew existed. How would this admission change their relationship? Would Lena find out who Aaron Kramer was and why her father spent over forty years searching for him?


I really enjoyed reading My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams. As I previously stated, I learned so much about Russian life under Stalin and different aspects about World War II that I had not known about. My Mother’s Secret involved a mystery, several meaningful friendships and a love story. It dealt with loss, acceptance, courage, faithfulness, identity, determination, willingness to sacrifice and love. I think the cover is amazing! Overall, I really enjoyed reading My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams and highly recommend it.

Thank you to History Through Fiction LLC for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC of My Mother’s Secret by Alina Adams in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected on November 15, 2022.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and History Through Fiction for my copy of My Mother's Secret by Alina Adams in exchange for an honest review. It publishes November 15, 2022.
I am so glad that this book was written. I had never heard of the Jewish Autonomous Region in the USSR, and I am grateful that Alina Adams put in the work and the research to bring this history to the page, and raise awareness of this time period.
I have to admit, I spent a lot of time really uncomfortable reading this book. However, I believe that is by design, and I think Adams does a great job keeping the reader on their toes. I really appreciated the way this story was told and how it moved, and the pacing of it.
This is more than just your average WWII book, definitely give it a read!

I was fascinated to learn of the existence of Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Region created in Russia pre WWII. This relevant and well researched family saga provided insight into the lives of the Jewish people impacted by Stalin and the war. With this historical novel of love and loss, identity and relationships, Alina Adams beautifully portrayed Russian Jewish culture in America and the implications of immigration.