TLC Book Tours Book Review: Red Year

About Red Year

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge Books (June 4, 2017)
 Can a red-haired woman from Chicago single-handedly force Joseph Stalin to back down? China, 1927. Thirty-three year old Rayna Prohme, accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidant and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution’s founder, to Moscow. But Moscow does not welcome the women. Borodin shuns them. Rayna’s stipend and housing arrangements are cancelled. “Go home,” she is told. But Rayna does not want to go home to an ordinary life, to her husband and Chicago. Instead, she applies to a Soviet espionage school that soon demands she spy on Mme. Sun. The Chinese widow is, by now, in grave danger as her exit visa is blocked. Rayna must make a choice -- Borodin and Russia or Mme. Sun and China. Praise Set in Russian and China during the 1920s, this beautifully written novel tells the story of a true American dreamer—a woman who charged into danger in search of passion, justice and some money to pay her bills. A fascinating story. --Susan Breen, author, Maggie Dove mysteries

Purchase Link

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Review: One word about this historical novel.

WOW!

Its 284 pages, but it is by no means a quick read. Its one you have to sit back and really savor, because you are going to learn something when you are finished.

That's how I just all historical fiction that I read. If I learn something and become more curious about the subject matter, then I know that the author has done a good job.

In this case, Jan has done a marvelous job, because as a result of reading  Rayna Prohme's story is intriguing and American turned Soviet spy.

Fabulous read!

Rating: 5 flowers

About Jan Shapin

Jan Shapin has been writing plays and screenplays for nearly thirty years, in the last decade concentrating on fiction. Shapin has studied playwriting at Catholic University in Washington, DC, screenwriting at the Film and Television Workshop and University of Southern California, and fiction writing at a variety of locations including Barnard College’s Writers on Writing seminar, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Her plays have been produced in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. She has received grants from the RI Council for the Humanities and has served as a juror for the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts screenplay fellowship awards. Two previous novels, A Desire Path and A Snug Life Somewhere, were published in 2012 and 2014. She lives in North Kingstown, RI with her photographer husband. Learn more about Jan at her website, janshapin.com.