Overview

A wonderful, revelatory, unforgettable read about passion, friendship, hidden heroes, and the power of the written word to change the world. ________________________ 'Utterly compelling... I absolutely loved it' Sarah Winman 'Tantalising' Sunday Times 'Thoroughly enjoyable' Guardian ________________________ No one looks twice at the women in the typing pool. No one knows that two of them are trading secrets. The secret is a book, the size of the one in your hands, and within its pages, a love story that could change the world. But where there is love there is pain. And where there is deception, formidable danger... ________________________ 'Mixing Mad Men and John le Carre ... addictive' i paper 'Irresistibly charged' Mail on Sunday

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9781786090744

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Reviews

What a fantastic novel The Secrets We Kept is. Thrilling, seductive and thoroughly compelling - Lara has created something really special. And it's made me want to re-read Doctor Zhivago! I absolutely loved it! -- SARAH WINMAN Enthralling... This is a rare page-turner with prose that's as wily as its plot. * Vogue * A riveting story of secrets, forbidden passions and the dark arts of espionage. I couldn't put it down. There's something of Mad Men about this book and you can't get higher praise than that... Proving that fact can be stranger than fiction, this is the perfect book for some much-needed escapism. Cut yourself off and drink it all in. * STYLIST * A page-turner combining elements of spy, literary, thriller, historic, romantic and gay fiction ... This is escapist fiction rooted in an at times harrowing historical reality. * SUNDAY TIMES * Irresistibly charged and vividly imagined, it's told with a breezy confidence that sets the pages flying. * MAIL ON SUNDAY * A fascinating story, so cleverly told, of the long chain of people who helped to bring Pasternak's masterpiece into the world. I gulped it down. I loved this book. So vivid and engaging. A joy to read a story about spies that has lots of women in active roles. The insight into the workings of the CIA, the portrait of the 1950s and a threatened love affair in the West... make for riveting reading. * DAILY MAIL * Two very different love stories are woven into the action and plenty of impossible moral choices have to be made by its appealing characters. * LITERARY REVIEW *

What a fantastic novel The Secrets We Kept is. Thrilling, seductive and thoroughly compelling - Lara has created something really special. And it's made me want to re-read Doctor Zhivago! I absolutely loved it! -- SARAH WINMAN An unusual, stimulating variant on the standard spy thriller. * THE TIMES * Enthralling... This is a rare page-turner with prose that's as wily as its plot. * VOGUE * A riveting story of secrets, forbidden passions and the dark arts of espionage. I couldn't put it down. -- LISA JEWELL A fascinating true-life tale has been embroidered into a thrilling story that has it all - turbulent historical events, romantic love (some thwarted, some forbidden) and very cool spycraft. This captivating novel is so assured that it's hard to believe it's a debut - and very easy to see why there's huge buzz around it. * SUNDAY MIRROR * A page-turner combining elements of spy, literary, thriller, historic, romantic and gay fiction ... This is escapist fiction rooted in an at times harrowing historical reality... An unusual and stimulating Cold War spy thriller. * SUNDAY TIMES * There's something of Mad Men about this book and you can't get higher praise than that... Proving that fact can be stranger than fiction, this is the perfect book for some much-needed escapism. Cut yourself off and drink it all in. * STYLIST * Irresistibly charged and vividly imagined, it's told with a breezy confidence that sets the pages flying. * MAIL ON SUNDAY * A fascinating story, so cleverly told, of the long chain of people who helped to bring Pasternak's masterpiece into the world. I gulped it down. -- GILL HORNBY A heady tale of love, danger and double agents. * SUNDAY EXPRESS *

Author Information

Lara Prescott was named after the heroine of Doctor Zhivago and first discovered the true story behind the novel after the CIA declassified 99 documents pertaining to its role in the book's publication and covert dissemination. She travelled the world - from Moscow and Washington, to London and Paris - in the course of her research, becoming particularly interested in political repression in both the Soviet Union and United States and how, during the Cold War, both countries used literature as a weapon. Lara earned her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband.

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