Okay, so I liked this book but didn't love it. I felt for her and her feelings being stifled in a marriage when she had so much potential and I could understand her looking elsewhere for...well, mental stimulation and a break from the tedium of everyday life.. I guess I just wanted a little more character depth and a bit faster pace during certain timeframes. I can't really put my finger on what left me dissatisfied as I did enjoy it for the most part.

Excellent premise and well researched. I enjoyed this one but felt it was a little slow to get into and felt the plot could be better fleshed out.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

I've previously read and enjoyed Karen Tanabe's novels The Gilded Years and A Hundred Suns, so I was very excited to read her upcoming novel, A Woman Of Intelligence.

In A Woman Of Intelligence, Rina used to be a UN translator, using her fluency in four languages, but now she's married a doctor and given up her work to be a full-time mother. Caring for toddlers is frustrating, and she misses her old life and her old friends.

A few times, as Rina catalogued her frustrations, I felt like asking, but why? You have plenty of money to hire a nanny, you have the skills and contacts for a fulfilling job, so... why? Why are you dragging your sons around the city and hating every day of your life? It only worked because her closest girlfriend from her UN days also wondered why Rina would pack it all in for housewife life.

She gets a break in the monotony when she's approached by a government agent with a request. Her college boyfriend may be working for the Russians, and Rina is quickly caught up in Cold War spy drama, attending underground communist meetings, delivering photo negatives and arranging "accidental" meetings, pretending to be a Red while delivering all her information back to her government contact. There's a lot of intrigue and drama here, and tension comes from a nagging worry that some of the double agents were not actually on Rina's side. The world of pay phones and camera film added to the intrigue.

Again with the romance, I found myself asking, but why? Rina's love interest was nice enough but I felt more like Rina was lonely than that this was a tragic love story. I did love the character growth this provoked, and it highlighted Rina's struggle to be a supportive doctor's wife and fulfilled SAHM, while quietly running espionage missions.

Overall, A Woman Of Intelligence is an enjoyable historical spy story with a feminist slant.

A Woman of Intelligence is by Karin Tanabe, and will be published by St. Martin's Press on July 20, 2021.

A woman of intelligence tells the story of a woman in NYC split between her duties as a housewife and her more exciting life between children. It involves a good bit of intrigue including spying, the Communist party, and romance. The book feels relevant today while still being a historical fiction novel.

Excellent premise, and great potential. I wanted to love it! Unfortunately, this one just left me wanting a little more. This is the story of an interesting and vibrant woman who lost herself in her marriage and children. . . . then has the opportunity to step out of that vacuum when the FBI asks for her help. Some of the scenes are so relatable, but just as many are so far-fetched - ie I just can't see a married woman with children leaving town for the day once a week without her husband or anyone noticing. I think younger people will love this story though. This would actually make a good series - book or tv! Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc. Solid 3.5 stars.

Full Disclosure: I was given early access to this book in exchange for writing an impartial review. Scheduled publication, July 2021.
A fast, engaging read about a smart, well-educated woman in 1950s New York City and her transition from career girl to marriage and motherhood. With a bit of Cold War thrown in.

World War II has recently ended and Rina (who speaks 4 languages) is lucky enough to land a job as a translator at the newly formed United Nations. There, she makes close friends, meets interesting people (like Ambassador Eleanor Roosevelt) makes a contribution toward a more peaceful world, and has plenty of time to date and socialize.

That is until she falls for Tom — a prominent, handsome, ambitious and fabulously wealthy pediatric surgeon who admires her intelligence, humor, and unique take on the world. Rina, aged 30 (old by 1950s standards) agrees to marry him. (Honestly, who wouldn’t?) And the two begin married life in a large apartment where Rina wears designer clothes, attends galas, and hob-knobs with the city’s elite.

As Rina slides increasingly into her husband’s world, she slowly realizes how much she has given up. So, when a federal agent says the government needs her language abilities to help fight communism (aka The Red Scare), how can she possibly say NO?

That’s all I’ll say about the plot, not wanting to spoil your read. In many ways, Rina is ahead of her time. In 1950s America, any woman questioning the “fulfillment” associated with the traditional roles of wife and mother would be suspect. Particularly to a husband. And especially when he’s prominent and rich, and maybe a bit spoiled. But, don’t worry, Rina finds some understanding, in surprising places.

In one sense, this feels like a coming of age story, even though Rina is in her 30s. It’s about a woman trying to figure out what truly makes her happy and what exactly she’s willing to risk to be happy.

The characters are multi-dimensional, the relationships realistic. And the plot is NOT predictable. A few things in this novel didn’t quite ring true to me. For example, professional women having lots of casual sex in an era before birth control pills when virginity was still prized. But perhaps that’s simply my own naive take about what was really happening in the 1940s and 1950s.

Katharina has it all, a nice apartment in Manhattan, a handsome, wealthy, successful doctor husband, and 2 sons so why does she feel lost? Before her marriage she was a translator at the United Nations but now she is just a mom and she doesn't feel like she's good at being a mom. When a stranger approaches her with a proposal to help the FBI find out information about a former lover that is a Soviet spy Katharina says yes. But finding a way to work for the FBI and be a wife and mother means she needs to deceive those closest to her. Can she find a way to be 'useful' and still be a wife and mother? A story of the choices women make and what happens when those closest change their mind about what they want.in a woman.

I could not put this book down! Book was not predictable and was very engaging.
I believe the author tapped into the isolation many first time mothers experience.

A Woman of Intelligence sounded so good that it topped my TBR pile over the weekend, and I immersed myself in a Mad Men like atmosphere while I read about Katharina Edgeworth, a wealthy mother of 2 little boys, wife of a prominent doctor from a prominent family and...CIA spy? Katharina is bright and capable, but no match for an active baby and toddler, a husband who insists on a certain way of parenting while he spends most of his days and nights following his passion at the hospital, an overbearing mother-in-law, and no mommy friends. It sounds like a lonely, frustrating and unfulfilling existence, until Katharina meets her potential handler. She keeps his number in her pocket like a last ditch out, transferring it from skirt to skirt and almost wearing away the numbers. It takes a horrifyingly embarrassing drunken party to push Katharina to call, and somehow she manages to become an operative, moving information and charming an old college lover who now appears to work for the KGB.
It might sound like a preposterous plot, but Tanabe makes Katharina's story incredibly believable, and keeps you turning pages, pulling for her, and wondering how this all can conclude. Will things be wrapped up tidily? Will readers need a sequel? Will we be surprised? Read and see--it is totally worth it!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for the honest review. I enjoyed this book set during the 1950's Rina enjoys life as a single working girl after world war 2 and especially when working at the United Nations. Later she meets and marries a rich man who also enjoys his work but once she is pregnant everyone is waiting for her to stop working as is the norm. Rina is unhappy at home caring for her two sons her every move is judged by her husband a very gifted child surgeon. Rina misses working and using her intelligence. She is approached by the FBI to go undercover to see an old lover again and to seem open to communism. I was hooked to finish the book shortly after starting. Pick it up for a great read.

thriller, espionage, intrigue, historical-novel, historical-research, women's-fiction

The writing is exceptional for women's fiction. Set in the early 1950s in NYC, a former UN translator adopts a
double life as an FBI informant during the McCarthy era when she became bored with the life she had with her children and wealthy husband. Very well done, but not my thing.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for an ARC!

Katherina Edgewood is the stressed mother of two children under the age of two, married to the perfect man in who’s job (that he does extraordinarily well) is to save children’s lives, living in a wonderful penthouse apartment in New York City, and she’s falling apart. Unable to deal with her son’s terrible twos and a baby, missing the life she had before marriage, Prior to her marriage to the perfect man, Katherina (Rina for short) had been a translator for the UN, traveling the world, meeting people in the highest levels of government; in short an intellectually stimulating, glamorous and fulfilling life. Motherhood is not the same. One day in the park after having a meltdown, she is approached by the FBI; apparently a lover from her life before marriage is thought to be a Russian spy, and they want Rina to find a way to run into him again, gain his confidence and give them the intelligence they need to capture his entire ring. And so begins Katherina’s double life. If she thought her life was stressful before, living a secret life makes it mind bogglingly complex. But it also makes her feel like a person with a brain again who is doing something that has a real impact.

The title says it all; Rina is a woman of intelligence, and Intelligence. Her story is interesting and suspenseful, and it could be riveting if it were a little more believable. How she manages to balance her two lives without her husband figuring things out is a bit far fetched. Even with this, A Woman of Intelligence is worth the read, especially if you are able to put aside your doubts and focus on the story.

This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

My thanks for the arc but this fell a bit flat for me. Rina West is a very educated woman in NY in the 40s that works as a translator for the UN. Enjoys life with her best friend Marianne. Rina meets Dr. Tom Edgeworth, a pediatric surgeon from a rich family . They marry. All Tom seemed to be looking for was a wife to have his children, which she did, two sons. Tom wanted her to give her job up, which she did. He did not want to compromise. Rina started to lose her identity as she became the socialite wife. Did not seem to really want to be a mother. The she was approached by the FBI with an offer to become an informant/courier and couldn't refuse. Interesting spy and intrigue . Yes Rina was a product of the times but I didn't find her likeable in regards to her children. I didn't find Tom.very likeable because he was never around and didn't seem to compromise. Not a bad book . .Just ok.

As a character study of this woman, this is an excellent book. I didn't particularly like her, but I did have empathy for her situation and her role. She was a product of the times. I love how she needed to be her own independent woman. I know she loved her children, but at times I felt like she thought of them more of a nuisance - which actually I found fascinating. She wasn't perfect, which made this more realistic. I may not have agreed with all of her thoughts and choices, but I understood them.

As a spy novel, this fell flat. Where was her training? It just seemed odd that she was thrown in,. And the spycraft wasn't as interesting as I have read in other books.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the advance copy. It did not impact my review of #awomanofintelligence.

Living in Manhattan and working as a translator at the United Nations, Katharina Edgeworth had the world at her fingertips. Yet, when she marries a wealthy, ambitious, and conservative pediatric surgeon, the consequences of her life as a traditional stay-at-mother crush her spirit. Yearning for the life and promise she once had, Katharina finds escape from domesticity in an unlikely endeavor. She becomes an informant for the FBI as it investigates her former college lover turned high-ranking Soviet operative.

Typically, the espionage carries the burden of intrigue, but with A Woman of Intelligence, I was more enthralled by hot-mess Katharina than super-spy-seductress-newBFF Katharina. I kept hoping to get through the KGB/FBI/Civil Rights Activist storylines to return to the family drama. I was more invested in Katharina finding herself than playing a pivotal role in staving off Communist threats.

A Woman of Intelligence is a good, quick, and exciting four out of five-star read. Readers who enjoy historical spy fiction where New York City takes center stage as a Tony-worthy supporting character, will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for an advance copy of A Women of Intelligence in exchange for an honest review.

There was just too much I couldn't believe in this title. The historical setting of post- WWII New York was well drawn, but the behaviour of the main character seemed more placed in the 1960s. The ease and lack of training with which the FBI accepted an unknown female and let her work undercover was simply not plausible. The character development was thin and predictable. I finished it, but really thought about just putting it down.

I have mixed emotions about A Woman of Intelligence. As a historical fiction novel it doesn't really go anywhere, despite being what I'm guessing is very historically accurate. Rina West is a fun-loving woman from a middle class background that because of her skill set eventually lands at the UN, where along with her friend Marianne she precedes to live life to the fullest. During this time she meets Tom Edgeworth, a moneyed physician, and falls in love. And while everything started off grand, she's forced to quit her job when she's pregnant, then expected to fall into the utterly boring and stifling responsibilities of being the perfect wife and mother when Tom's expectations change as his career advances. Not surprisingly, Rina hates having nothing to live for except raising Tom's sons for him (because he sure as heck isn't around to do it). Various events reminding her of what her life has been reduced to and an opportunity to be more leads Rina to agree to do work for the FBI, investigating a college boyfriend that's a full-blown Communist when it was a very bad time to be a Communist in America. The spy work isn't particularly intriguing, or suspenseful and it doesn't really seem to go much of anywhere - which is why for me this story works so much better as a character study of a smart, ambitious woman in a time period where respectful women put aside their intelligence and ambition to raise the future generations of their smart, ambitious (or maybe just rich) husbands. While being bored with Rina's life and clandestine activities, I couldn't help but feel irritated with her children, infuriated with her husband and exhausted by the misogynistic tendencies of 1950s America.

A spy thriller. Katharina is a mother of two boys, married to a rich husband. She isn't always satisfied with her life. Raising two boys is hard work. Her husband expects perfection. Her in laws are bugeuious and think of nothing but themselves.
When she is approached to act as a spy she is at first not sure. Then the excitement draws her in and she is more than ready to do what needs to be done.
Exciting thriller!!

Great book for a quick escape. I totally loved Rina - her authenticity, intelligence, her craving for wanting more, her battle with motherhood etc...

My only complaint - great premise but her disappearances I just couldn’t buy into. There is no way Rina could have pulled off her hustle in the least. She had way too much going on, not to mention being under the thumb of Tom. No way could she have pulled off all the magic tricks she did. However, rolling along with the story, it made it a quick getaway from the grind of life and I found it entertaining.

Rina made the book pleasing - she had it all but felt like she had nothing and was disillusioned by her life and expectations. Her genuineness was enjoyable.