Our American Friend
A Novel
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- $279.00
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- $279.00
Descripción editorial
A globe-spanning thriller of love and betrayal about a mysterious first lady with an explosive secret.
Paris, 1974. Lara Orlov and her family arrive from Moscow at the height of the Cold War, thanks to her father’s position as a diplomat. The years pass, and Lara becomes more and more enamored with the City of Lights. As a teenager in Paris, she falls deeply in love with a fellow Russian expat: the passionate, intellectual Sasha, who opens her eyes to the ills of the Soviet Union.
Decades later and across the globe, journalist Sofie Morse is taking some much-needed time off after several chaotic years covering Washington politics. But when she gets a call from the office of First Lady Lara Caine, her curiosity is piqued. Sofie, like the rest of the world, knows little about Lara—only that she was born in Soviet Russia and raised in Paris before marrying Henry Caine, the brash future president.
After decades of silence, Lara is finally ready to speak candidly about her past: about her father’s work for the KGB and about her ill-fated relationship with Sasha—which may be long in the past, but which could have explosive ramifications for the future. As Sofie begins to write Lara’s biography, she can’t help but wonder: Why is Lara revealing such sensitive information? And why now? Caught in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, both Lara and Sofie must ask themselves what really matters—and confront their own power to upend the global political order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pitoniak (The Futures) capitalizes on the stranger-than-fiction Trump White House with this tepid story of a Russian-born first lady. The elusive Lara Caine—Russian wife of brash, dangerous president Henry Caine—surprises journalist Sofie Morse by asking Sofie to write her biography. Sofie, who's just left her job as a reporter covering the machinations and reelection of the unpalatable POTUS, is suspicious: Lara's past, as well as her political ideology, is a mystery. But the opportunity is too tempting to pass up, and Sofie lays her professional scruples aside and is soon drawn into Lara's inner circle. She meets Lara's Russian mother and sister and becomes dangerously invested in the story Lara tells of her youth and of her tragic love affair with a young dissident and its tragic repercussions. Sofie is torn between her job as an authorized biographer and her instincts as a journalist to remain objective, and the professional decisions she makes land her in the center of some serious international intrigue. The narrative alternates between Lara's reminiscences and Sofie's efforts to make sense of her claims, with little tension and a cast of rather stock characters, though Pitoniak's account of palace intrigue has its entertaining moments. This will keep readers turning the pages, but it's not particularly thrilling or deep.
