Michael White

Buy Beautiful Assassin: Harper Collins | Indie Bound

“This is a superb 1940s drama . . . a winner that condemns nations for their expendable deployment of individuals.”
Harriet Klausner

"It is rare to find a work of historical fiction that can so intricately weave fact and fiction into a fantastic story. We follow Soviet sniper Tat'yana Levchenko from the Eastern Front of World War II to the United States as she tours with Eleanor Roosevelt, embarking on a journey of mystery and intrigue and revealing the shaky alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States."
Zachary Schwarz, Indie Next List, April '10

“It has been occupying most of my free moments for the past several days.... Painstakingly researched, relentlessly paced, Beautiful Assassin is a book you will not put down easily, and one that will resonate well past the closing pages.”
BookPage.com

***

The acclaimed author of Soul Catcher returns with Beautiful Assassin, a breathtaking tale of love, loyalty, and intrigue set during World War II, in which a decorated Russian sniper finds herself caught between two suspicious allies.

As World War II engulfs the globe, none suffer its misery like the beleaguered Soviets who are struggling to hold back the invading Germans. Yet just as all seems lost, a fearless and unflappable female sniper named Tat’yana Levchenko gains fame in the battle of Sevastopol with confirmed kills of over three hundred enemy soldiers. Offering hope in the nation’s darkest moments, she becomes a Soviet hero, and word of her beauty and prowess reaches Washington, D.C. Soon, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself invites Tat’yana to tour America with her.

For the Soviets, the invitation is an opportunity to garner public support a much-needed second front in the war—but also to gather information about President Roosevelt’s plans. Tat’yana becomes a pawn in a battle for information, and she is forced to question the motivations of everyone around her, including an American captain who has been assigned her translator. But as quickly as she rises to fame, Tat’yana vanishes. Did she defect? Was she silenced—and by whom? Decades later, a clever journalist will discover Tat’yana’s story . . . and reveal the truth.

Fans of Sebastian Faulks’ Charlotte Gray, Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, as well as the novels of Mark Mills and Alan Furst, will relish this authentic and compelling tale of war, intrigue, and romance.