Review: A Woman of Intelligence

A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The war is over, and there are men all around. What is a woman of intelligence supposed to do with all of this bounty? After she sows her wild oats (and I do mean she REALLY sows them), she marries Tom Edgeworth, an eventual pediatric surgeon, quits (or is rather forced out of) her marvelous job once she is heavily pregnant, and becomes a stay at home mother. Until one day, she is accosted by an FBI agent who wants her to become an informer (this is the Cold War period). An interesting premise, is it not?

Well, it would be if one did not have to stretch their credulity nearly to the point of breaking. For example, this book took place in 1954. Did you know that pantyhose weren't invented until 1959? I know this is just a little nit-picky thing for me to latch onto. But it gets more difficult to stay wrapped in this story as the story itself goes on. Did the FBI agent prove what he was? No. Was her husband Tom typical of the time period? Yes. Even though this book takes place in the '50s, do you think women of 'means' were really this chained to their families? I doubt it. Would Rina had been so easily able to 'spy' and travel for it with such an imposing husband?

This is an interesting novel with many twists and turns, but it just wasn't enough to capture me, enthrall me; I just found myself becoming overly critical with it all.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS:"A Fifth Avenue address, parties at the Plaza, two healthy sons, and the ideal husband: what looks like a perfect life for Katharina Edgeworth is anything but. It’s 1954, and the post-war American dream has become a nightmare.

A born and bred New Yorker, Katharina is the daughter of immigrants, Ivy-League-educated, and speaks four languages. As a single girl in 1940s Manhattan, she is a translator at the newly formed United Nations, devoting her days to her work and the promise of world peace—and her nights to cocktails and the promise of a good time.

Now the wife of a beloved pediatric surgeon and heir to a shipping fortune, Katharina is trapped in a gilded cage, desperate to escape the constraints of domesticity. So when she is approached by the FBI and asked to join their ranks as an informant, Katharina seizes the opportunity. A man from her past has become a high-level Soviet spy, but no one has been able to infiltrate his circle. Enter Katharina, the perfect woman for the job.

Navigating the demands of the FBI and the secrets of the KGB, she becomes a courier, carrying stolen government documents from D.C. to Manhattan. But as those closest to her lose their covers, and their lives, Katharina’s secret soon threatens to ruin her."