The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott

 

East

West

Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (Olya) – incarcerated 3 years, after that became Pasternak’s business emissary Ira – daughter Mitya – son Mother   Boris Pasternak (Borya) 1958 – Awarded the Nobel Prize, forced to turn it down 1989 – Re-awarded Nobel Prize Zinaida - wife   Lubyanka: Anatoli Sergeyevich Semionov – Olga’s guard   Giangiacomo Feltrinelli – Italian publisher Sergio D’Angelo – Italian literary agent

Irina Drozdova Mother – seamstress Father – arrested, died in Gulag   The Typists: Betty – former OSS Virginia – former OSS Gail Carter – engineering degree, black Kathy Norma Kelly – married Teddy, wrote spy novel   Soviet Russian Division (SR): ·       Walter Anderson – oversaw typing pool, former OSS ·       Frank Wisner -founded agency’s clandestine ops, ·       Sally Forrester – “The Swallow,” became Lenore Miller in 1958 after dismissed from SR ·       Teddy Helms – trainer, went to England to get book in original Russian ·       Henry Rennet – ruined Sally’s reputation, Sally had him killed

 

For Discussion:

Note: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       The author wrote that many people involved in intelligence came to work at the Agency after they retired from the field because, for one reason, they missed “the power that came from being a keeper of secrets” (page 59).   Can you understand this?  How do you feel when you are entrusted with a secret?

 

2.       Discuss the character of Irina.  Why did she have trouble fitting into the typing pool?  Irina wondered if her “feeling of being a constant outsider, of being more comfortable alone” was picked up by the group (page 117).

 

3.       The author wrote that “the politics of friendship are tricky at every age” (page 117).  What did the author mean by this?  How did she support this statement through the various characters in the novel?

 

4.       Were you surprised that Irina liked her new role as a carrier as much as she did?  She thought that “For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had a greater purpose, not just a job” (page 116).   Why did this work suit her?  Could you do that type of work?

 

5.       What did you think about the subplot of the relationship between Sally and Irina?  Did it add to the novel?  Did you like the ending?

 

6.       Discuss the character of Henry:

a.       In Chapter 15, why did Henry attack Sally?  Did the people in the Agency really not care about her?

b.       Who were the people at Sara’s Dry Cleaning in Washington, DC?  What happened to Henry after Sally gave them his name?

c.       Was he really a double agent?

 

7.       Did the Italian publisher fully understand how the publishing of Doctor Zhivago put Pasternak in danger?  Was it his duty to publish the novel?

 

8.       Discuss the novel, Doctor Zhivago:

a.       When Sally finally read the book in 1958, she thought that it was not a weapon, but a love story (page 302). 

b.       The Agency thought is was a weapon.  They valued it because of the “critiques of the October Revolution and its so-called subversive nature” (page 131).

c.       What do you think after reading The Secrets We Kept?

 

9.       Discuss the power of books in general:

a.       The Agency saw “books as weapons” and thought that “literature could change the course of history” (page 130).  Do you agree?

b.       Have you read any books you thought could have changed the world?  That changed you?

 

10.   Would you be willing to smuggle a banned book into America like the Russians did after the World’s Fair?

 

11.   How did you like the organization of the book?  Did it take you a while to determine that chapters were narrated by different people?  Did you like the way the author crossed our previous identities and added new ones?

 

12.   Did this book influence you to want to read Dr. Zhivago?