This book is based on a true story and it really is remarkable. I think it reads stranger than fiction at many times but the whole book is written and researched well you are carried along for a very interesting ride. I have to admit I knew nothing of this woman nor of her role in the war but I love to learn from novels and find the mix of fact and fiction. Lots of graphic scenes as you can imagine which were necessary but the information about the guns, I got a little tired of, Didn't spoil the book too much as this is such a remarkable story

Excellent biographical fictional account about World War II Soviet sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko. She killed over three hundred Germans, was taken on a goodwill tour - to encourage the United States to support the USSR - when what she really wanted to do was study history and be with her son. She wasn't famous before, but now Kate Quinn has introduced her to the reading public, she will be.

Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC.

Kate Quinn is back with another epic historical saga with a strong female protagonist - this time Lyudmila (Mila) Pavlichenko, also known as "Lady Death" because of her prowess as a sniper during WWII. The story is based on the memoir of Pavlichenko herself, with Quinn explaining at the end of the book which parts she was true to and which she embellished for narrative purposes.
As with all of Quinn's previous books, the story spans a detailed amount of time the heroine's life; It starts in 1942 America where a Soviet delegation are on a 'goodwill' mission to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Mila as part of the contingent. We then go back in time to meet her as a young single mother in Kiev, married but trying to divorce her letch of a husband, trying to be both mother and father to her son; she decides to undertake a proper marksmanship course to be able to show her son this skill when the time comes, but doesn't realise at that time that she will utilise those skills in a much more prominent way - when Russia officially goes to war with Germany while she is away at college studying History. She immediately enlists, and so her story really begins.
We follow Mila through the trenches, the battles and her developing into the most prolific lady sniper that History ever recorded. The story never loses sight of her as a person though, and we also feel the despair at having to be at war, the sadness and lonliness she feels at being away from her son and parents, the camraderie with her fellow comrades, as well as the specific struggles of being a woman soldier at war. It is also very interesting in light of current circumstances as Ukrainian-born Mila is fighting for Russia (all part of the then Soviet Union) and it was hard not to think about this while reading it.
Overall I enjoyed this, and while it isn't my favourite of her books, she has shown yet again that she can write a strong female-focused, historical drama highlighting probably lesser known achievements.

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an invitation to read an advance review copy of ‘The Diamond Eye’ by Kate Quinn in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Diamond Eye’ was another well researched work of historical fiction based on a true story.

I had been impressed last year by Quinn’s WWII novel, ‘The Rose Code’ and how well she had blended real life events and historical figures into the narrative.

In ‘The Diamond Eye’ she focuses her story around the life of Mila Pavlichenko, an aspiring historian who in 1937 was living in Kyiv (Kiev), Soviet Union. Her life revolves around her academic work and her young son until Hitler’s invasion of Russia changes everything.

Mila had already acquired an Advanced Marksman Certificate before the invasion. She quickly signs up and is assigned to an elite sniper unit. There her gifts are honed to perfection. She gains a reputation and acquires the name Lady Death.

In 1942 Mila is selected to be part of a Soviet delegation to the USA. Their mission is to convince President Roosevelt to commit resources to the war in Europe and specifically to the Soviet Union. Mila is perceived as an oddity though finds an unexpected ally in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Yet she is unaware that she is being closely observed by a man only identified to us as the Marksman. He appears to have nefarious plans.

Quinn moves between Mila’s harrowing experiences on the Eastern Front and her being feted around the United States. On occasion there are Notes by the First Lady as well as brief extracts from Mila’s official and unofficial memoirs.

I found Mila an accessible protagonist and especially appreciated her frustration at the way she was treated in the States: “I wish they’d stop calling me the girl sniper,” the marksman heard her mutter in Russian … “Only in America can you be a soldier and twenty-six, and still be a girl.”

Quinn’s Author’s Note provides details of how she first encountered Mila Pavlichenko when researching an earlier novel and felt that her extraordinary life story warranted its own novel. Quinn includes a bibliography, internet resources, and even film references. There is also a section of historical photographs.

Overall, I found this an excellent work of historical fiction with elements of a political thriller woven into the story. It’s climax certainly proved nail-biting.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to HarperCollins for allowing me to review this book. I initially felt uncomfortable reading about this sniper from the Ukraine, then part of the USSR joining the war against the Germans, as she described the the destruction the Hitlerites were causing in the USSR, due to the current war in Ukraine. However, this aside Kate Quinn has written very sensitively the story of Mila. She is a young mother, studying at University when the Germans invade Odessa. As a good markswoman she enlists and becomes well renowned as a sniper. As the war progresses, a group are taken to the USA to persuade Roosevelt to support the Russians. Mila, is befriended by the First Lady.
Whilst based on a true story, it is not clear until reading the authors motes at the end what she has imagined to build on the autobiography written by Mila. Some of which surprised me. I found the book totally engaging and despite my discomfort I had to finish it and would encourage you to read thisbook.

This is the story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, know as Mila, who at the beginning of WW2 is a student working in Kiev, trying to finish her dissertation and bring up her son as a single mother. When war is declared she decides, in the course of an afternoon, to join up, and use the marksmanship skills she has. As a woman joining what is essentially a male domain she faces bigotry and discrimination but shear guts and will power keep Mila afloat.
The story contains details of many battle she fights against the 'Hitlerists' as the Germans advance, are repulsed, and advance again. Mila is wounded several times but bounces back stronger. She falls in love with another in the company but lives to see him killed along with most of her platoon.
She is then used as propaganda by the Russian war machine and sent to America to campaign for US involvement in the European war and support in terms of men and arms.
I loved this story, and although it is long and contains many technical details of such things as gun sights and trajectories, I simply skimmed the details to continue with the narrative. I was totally bound up in the love story and the game of chase with the marksman at the end.
It was fascinating to read the author's notes at the end and find much of the book was based on the memoir of the real Lyudmila Pavlichenko, although some licence has been taken with her husband and lovers and the final section in America was very much fiction. The Youtube clips of Lyudmila Pavlichenko were interesting too.
An interesting story, told in a readable way, with compelling characters and a great sense of place.
Whilst I may have enjoyed The Rose Code more, I still think this book is worthy of five stars. Netgalley and Harper Collins for a chance to read an arc in return for an honest review.

If anyone had asked me to read a book about a Ukrainian born Russian woman sniper during the Second World War, I would probably have said, No Thank you its not my kind of book , and then I would have missed out on a fantastic story, based on a real woman.
Kate Quinn has quickly become one of my favourite authors. This is a magnificent sortie into the mind of Mila, trained sniper in the Red Army in the early 1940's. Through discrimination, early marriage and heartbreak, Mila notched up more tan 300 kills until she becomes a poster girl and travels to the USA and UK to encourage then to come to the aid of Russia.
This long saga brings the horrors of war to life and the heartbreak of love in the midst of war is touching. It is the friendship and camaraderie which makes this a stand out novel.

Kate Quinn's latest WW2 historical novel throws a welcome light on a little known Ukrainian Russian woman sniper, Lyudmila 'Mila' Pavilichenko, with her record of 300+ sniper kills for a Red Army desperately fighting the German Nazi invasion. It is a blend of fact and fiction that draws heavily on Mila's autobiography, The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper. A history obsessed student, she is mother to her young son, Slavka, and married to ambitious and arrogant surgeon, Alexei, a man who has no interest in her or their son, and is unco-operative in her efforts to try and divorce him. Having received advanced training as a sniper, she manages to enlist, and becomes a sniper under the command of Captain Sergienko, proving herself to be a valuable asset. Interspersed throughout the story are the notes of American first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, the eyes and ears of Franklin, a man with deadly enemies prepared to do whatever it takes to get rid of him.

The novel opens with Mila in Washington DC as part of a Russian delegation, now fighting the propaganda war, Russia is losing the harrowing war against the German enemy, and badly needs the US to open a second front, and wants arms, equipment and supplies. The reluctant Mila is central to the Russian agenda, but she feels out of her depth as she is denigrated, disbelieved and disrespected by a American media and public that cannot relate to her being a woman sniper and her battlefield experiences, but she becomes significantly more adept as she forges a surprisingly close and warm relationship with Eleanor. However, she is going to need her hard won skills as a sniper as she finds herself the target of a marksman hired for nefarious political purposes. Mila's time as as a sniper are depicted, her rise through the ranks until she commands her own platoon, her silent Siberian partner, Kostia, who she trusts to have her back, the heartbreaking military failures forcing retreats, her loves, the nightmare losses and the agony of unbearable grief.

Quinn portrays what is often forgotten in WW2 history, just how heavy a blood price Russia paid to help defeat the Nazi German regime, and that it wasn't just men who contributed to the war effort, women played a instrumental role too, illustrated here with the spotlight on the battle scarred, PTSD suffering Mila. The book does not shy away from the fact that Russia, the motherland, can be a hard and unforgiving place to make a life, as can be observed with the character of Kostia and the dilemma he faces whilst working as the delegation interpreter in the US. This is riveting historical fiction that held my attention from beginning to end, and I particularly loved the growing development of the remarkable bond between Mila and Eleanor. By the way, there are some wonderful photographs of Mila at the end of the book. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

What a fabulous read! I had heard of Lyudmila Pavlichenko however I certainly didn’t know all of her story. This has been beautifully written, keeps you on your toes as there are unexpected twists and turns kept even more interesting as so much of it is a true story with well known famous names involved. Thoroughly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I am sure I would have enjoyed this book more under different circumstances.

I tried very hard to forget about the current political events, but I just could not relate to this young woman fighting in the Red Army to defend Russia from the German invaders. "I didn't ask them to come here and invade our country. Now I have no other choice: I have to shoot them." Mila keeps repeating her mantra, which reads like an article from today's papers, and I need to stop every 50 pages to take deep breaths and swallow tears... It was difficult to walk in her shoes and feel sympathy.

The first half of the book was way too slow but I enjoyed the second half. I expected more adrenaline rush from the war scenes, instead they were rather like entries from a field diary. What I liked however was the development and description of Mila's emotions towards her "husbands".

I just wish I had picked this book up a few months earlier.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an Advance Review Copy.

What a great novel and so gripping! Based on true characters, Mila's story particularly will definitely stay with me!
Mila had an unusual talent as a sniper and was recruited by the Soviet army to fight against the Nazis. As so often in those times and days, being a woman was not an advantage. Mila also had not only to fight to get the respect she was due, but as a woman among male soldiers, she had to protect herself physically! No easy task!
I have found this lady fascinating! How could she manage to kill so many men (she could see their faces through her rifle's telescopic glasses!), and remain very human herself, a loving mother, daughter? Or is it because of what she did that she remained a warm person nevertheless? I learned a lot about what being a sniper involved, frightening but interesting as to the qualities involved. An excellent read!
Thank you so much NetGalley for sending an ARC of this captivating novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is historical fiction at its best. This is such a great read not least of all because if you also read the author’s note at the end most of it it true and based on the leading lady’s very own memoir. What Kate Quinn so magically does though is bring the people, the time and the place together, so you feel fully immersed in the history. What made this story even more poignant for me though is the parallels and reflections that can be drawn with the current war in Ukraine. This book has some brilliant lines and observations that just really make you sit back and think. This really is an astonishing account of one women’s war story.

Mila excited this is a great Novel based on her life set during the Second World War very poignant at in Ukraine well before its independence. So Mila is in the Red Army.

There is lots to challenge modern life but a great read I love it, a sniper Lady Death not a title she liked but never the less well read it for yourself is honestly in my view a great read. There is simmering for everyone action love (don't worry not slush) heartbreak and unexpected friendships, its true story in a work of total fiction it would be get real but it is so wow.

There are great characters damaged so real no perfects it's a great escape into someone else life, a life that seems unreal but asks what could i achieve using what I've got deep but not a bad question to gain from a novel. When the Nazis turned on Russia lives were altered not unlike today true evil that destroyed so much and made so many. The scars run deeper than skin to state the obvious, its a hard to take I honesty when I see the news but the Human story is a powerful one to read that is important and I'm so glad I have read this.

Yes I'm giving this 5stars because the story of individuals makes a difference Mila is a hero but not that she sees it that way I do.

The Diamond Eye is a World War Two tale, based on the real story of a female sniper in the Russian army.

Teenage bride then single mother and history student, Mila signed up to fight for her family’s future as Germany invaded Russia’s borders.

This is a the story of just one of the many female heroines of war. Mila fought on the Eastern Front and her official sniper kill number was 309. This may have been higher; often kills weren’t verified in the chaos of war. The number could also have been lower as much of the history about Mila’s life came from a memoir written for propaganda purposes. Part of that propaganda involved sending Mila along with other Russian students to America in 1942; their role was to help persuade the American President to commit to joining the war by providing a second front in Europe to divert Hitler’s attentions.

There’s an interesting format to the book; chapters pass back and forth between the fight in Russia and the student delegation in America. Dotted in between are notes from the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who is said to have befriended Mila during her visit; they remained friends after the war. Often Mila’s chapters begin with an official line from her memoir and then her ‘real’ propaganda-free thoughts and memories of what happened.

I liked it. A lot. Quinn has an ability to make her characters come alive and the details of the settings and atmosphere took me to the heart of the battlefields and beyond as we followed Mila’s life. I always enjoy the extra notes from the author, found at the back of the book, where you get to hear what inspired the story, what they had to work with and how they gave it a literary spin.

Having already enjoyed reading previous war themed books written by Quinn, I was delighted to see a couple of connections, in this book, to the magnificent, Nina from The Huntress. I can happily recommend this to fans of war fiction.

What a wonderful story of an amazing woman that the author has brought to life, putting flesh on the historical records and memoirs relating the facts of her life. Starting as a young 15 yr old naive pregnant girl, married and soon separated to become a single parent, supported by loving parents to become a Kiev university history student, and also learning to shoot so as to be a good father and mother to her son. When the Germans invade Russia, she enlists volunteering to be a sniper. How she over comes prejudice, rising up the ranks, to train and command a platoon, surviving many battles and being seriously wounded before being selected for a world student conference in America. The visit is used to rally support for the war resulting in her making a successful tour of cities and charming everyone. How she wins the friendship of FDR and Eleanor and return to survive the war and live to a ripe old age, all makes an outstanding story.

I must confess that I am a massive fan of Kate Quinn's books. She weaves historical novels around strong (usually real life) characters.

In the case we meet and follow Mila Pavlichenko, a young single mother who is a graduate student and lathe operator in Soviet Russia.

She has a keen interest in marksmanship and,when Mother Russia is invaded by Hitler, volunteers to become a sniper.

Wounded 4 times, and with 309 killed to her name, she is sent as part of a delegation to persuade the US to open a second front  in Europe.

She forms a  unlikely friendship with the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and charms crowds all over the States.

A fast paced and informative book which was a pleasure to read. I thank Netgalley and Harper Collins for allowing me to read this book.

Mila Pavlichenko is a mother, separated from her husband, a history student and now a sniper. Set at the start of WWII, she finds her life torn apart when she joins the Army and goes to fight. Based on a real person, this is a really intriguing story, told from a female Soviet soldiers point of view, not something I’ve read about before.

Having read the Rose Code by this author, I was really pleased to be able to read this book. It’s so well researched, very atmospheric and adds a side to WWII that gets very little mention in the history books I’ve read. I knew that the number of Russians killed was a horrendous tally, but didn’t realise how many women fought on the front line for their country. I liked the scenes with Eleanor Roosevelt, again a part of the real Milas’ story and dovetailed nicely into the plot.

It was also worth reading Kate Quinn’s notes, about how and why she had created a couple of the characters, and of her research into Mila and her life. An excellent read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Kate Quinn is a master at blending fact and fiction in the most readable way. I love it when famous figures enter a story such as Eleanor Roosevelt and events are as happened. Once again this is a gripping and interesting story, totally different from my usual reads, but an excellent telling of real events.

This was a fascinating story based on the real life of a female Russian sniper during the second World War. The detail was amazing and the real life portrait of the sniper at the end was the icing on the cake. A totally absorbing and unexpected story.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction that was based on a real person and what a woman. Well written with a riveting storyline and well developed charcaters that I came to love especially Lyudmila. I found her story so interesting and her so brave. I couldn't put this book down and I was so enamoured by her that I have actually started researching her for a potential essay for university. I loved it.