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“The Secrets We Kept,” by Lara Prescott Fiction, Sept. 3, 2019

by Gail Morrison

LW contributor

“The Secret’s We Kept” is a fictional account on a true historical development of Boris Pasternak’s writing of “Doctor Zhivago,” during the Cold War of the 1950s in Russia.

It reveals the turmoil in Russia that prohibited publishing the book as it was considered anti-Russian. It tells the story of the typists who worked with the CIA to get the book published for all Russians and the world to see what went on behind the scenes in political Russia.

The typists also provided a go-between, carrying secret messages to promote publication. It touches on Boris’s mistress, Olga, who becomes Lara to Yuri, the main characters in “Doctor Zhivago.” It also shows the horrors of Olga’s imprisonment in the Gulag because she would not reveal the plot of Boris’s book to the Russian government.

This book is a grim account and not the kind I usually read. It is the author’s debut novel and it is beautifully written with scenes transporting you inside the characters. Each chapter began with a new character speaking in first-person, making it difficult to know who was speaking.

I learned a lot of Russian history at this time and especially the great difficulty of the book’s publication. I haven’t read “Doctor Zhivago,” but now, it’s at the top of my reading list!

It’s also interesting that the author, Lara Prescott, is named after Lara in “Doctor Zhivago!”