The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Happy Thursday, readers! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things blog tour for Kate Quinn's latest historical novel, The Diamond Eye. 

Mila Pavlichenko's dream was to finish school and take up a position as a historian. She wanted to provide for her son. And she wanted to be free of her marriage. 

It was these things that prompted her to train as a sniper. 

She never expected she'd use her talents in the war. And she certainly never expected to gain recognition across the globe as one of the most successful military snipers of that era. 

But when an injury forces her away from the front lines, she finds herself in a foreign land faced with a new danger.

Kate Quinn has a knack for pulling together stories based in the most fascinating aspects of women's history! The Diamond Eye is no exception and features a character wholly based in truth who's story is not only fascinating but inspiring as well. 

Now, this is of course fiction. But Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko was, as mentioned, a very real person. She was known as Lady Death because of her prowess with a sniper rifle. And she did make friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and tour the United States and beyond after the war. 

She was also a young, single mother and a historian. 

And I know I'm not the only person who'd never heard of her before reading The Diamond Eye!

And obviously there's some creative license taken with the story. No one can know the inner exact inner workings of Mila's mind through the war and beyond. And both her thoughts as well as those of Eleanor Roosevelt do take center stage throughout the story. 

That knowledge aside, The Diamond Eye reads as convincingly authentic—something I think every historical fiction storyteller strives for and something that Quinn truly excels at. What's more, the pacing is excellent and all of those insights into Mila's thoughts and motivations make her a character not only easy to sympathize with but one whose story you genuinely want to read!

The Diamond Eye is another example of Quinn's fabulous talent as an author and is a must read for anyone interested in women's history, strong female characters, or simply an enthralling story!