A review by mwgerard
The Traitor's Daughter: Captured by Nazis, Pursued by the KGB, My Mother's Odyssey to Freedom from Her Secret Past by Roxana Spicer

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Roxana Spicer’s mother did not have to imagine the results of a Bolshevik takeover. Born under Lenin, Agnes (as she was known to her daughter) was forced to serve in the Red Army, was captured by the Nazis, sent to a prisoner camp, managed to survive and escape, somehow get to Canada, open a roadside restaurant, get married, and have a life.

Her daughter knows very little of this traumatic and exotic life. Now an adult, she is an investigative journalist, and is determined to use her skills to understand her mother’s past. Roxana carefully asks questions of her mother, trying to tease out pieces when she seems to be in a talkative mood. Roxana also made a number visits to Russia to meet and talk to relatives who might have stories to share. She finds many are still reluctant to talk about what happened.

The book stretches across the three-plus decades of a changing and crumbling Soviet facade to opening Iron Curtain. The narrative wanders from present investigations to historical context to childhood memories, reflecting how family stories are often told and remembered, weaving in and out.

The siren call of the Red Army Choir lures me out of my warm bed down to where Mom sits along, her legs tucked under her, in her favorite velvety-green chair that Dad got for her at yet another prairie farm auction. She stirs her vodka and Kahlua on ice with an index finger. I take my place at the far end of a matching forest-green couch, barefoot and quiet in my flannel pajamas. Between the clinking ice cubes and the scratchy Soviet music, Mom cracked open her personal Iron Curtain and let me in. ~Loc. 52.

It’s not an easy read. It is emotional and dark, but it is compelling and well done.

My thanks to Viking for the review copy. Read via NetGalley.