Jennie Rooney and Red Joan Star in the Cinematic Adaptation of Alice Walker's Beloved Novel, The Color Purple

L. Clark: I always find starting a book a little slow but the further I read, the pace picked up right to the end.
I thought the book was good reading and provided thought for both the left and right sides of the aisle when faced with circumstances beyond our control. I recommend reading “Red Joan” and waiting for the end to see what happens.

United States on Mar 06, 2022

DEJOHN030: The story is interesting but the main character seems to be the most naïve spy and dimmest Cambridge student ever. She inspired no sympathy.

United States on Feb 03, 2022

Mary Carroll Horner: It’s easy to put down. Average book. Was hoping for something more engaging

United States on Dec 28, 2021

Peter J. Dawes: "Red Joan" is a wonderful novel, loosly based on a real case, about an old British scientist who is finally exposed as a spy for the Russians. Her story is wonderfully told in a series of flashbacks during her exposure and interrogation by MI5.
The writing superbly captures the atmosphere of pre-war England of the late 30's when Joan goes to Cambridge and becomes knowledgeable about atomic atoms. During her time at university, she is agressively recruited into Communist ideologies, especially when she get a job in a secret lab that is working on developing an atomic bomb.
At the beginning of the war, Russia was an enemy and then, when Hitler attacked them, became an ally. It is this change in combatants and the devastation of Hiroshima that has led Joan to pass secret files to the Russians in the 40's, 50's and early 60's. Her reasoning is that the world would be safer if more countries had the bomb, not just one.
All the characters are wonderfully drawn and believable. I hope they make a movie of this interesting and well-told story.

United States on Nov 05, 2021

Sam K.: Motivation is often a mystery and is almost always complex. The usual reasons one might become a traitor - money, revenge, Ideology, love, blackmail - simply don’t apply in Joan’s case. In this tightly woven narrative we live inside Joan’s head and heart as she learns what she’s capable of in order to do what she thinks is right for humankind and best for herself. A thought provoking read.

United States on Aug 15, 2021

Soraya K.: I immensely enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down!
The novel is loosely based on the real-life story of Melita Norwood, an eighty-seven-year-old woman who was unmasked as the KGB's longest serving British spy in 1999.

In the present time Joan Stanley is an old widow and loving grandmother. She is accused by MI5 of passing government secrets to the USSR during the latter part of the Second World War and the years following. The novel switches back and forth between the developing interrogation of the present and Joan's flashbacks to her earlier life as a physics student in Cambridge in the late 1930's.
By chance she meets the Russian-born cousins, Leo and Sonya. Leo Galich is an extremely good-looking economic PhD Student and known communist radical. Joan is a very naive girl and didn't really understand what world she was getting into; what she knows is her conversations with the charismatic Leo are always interesting and Joan quickly falls in love with him. I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the world of Joan, Leo, Sonya and Max.
This book does a remarkable job of creating a sympathetic connection with Joan, as well as bringing up the moral greys of a...

Germany on May 07, 2020

dollydrops: I really enjoyed this book that's based on a true female spy. The story flits from the present when Joan is in her 80s being arrested and interrogated by MI5 to when she was in her 20s in the late 30s at Cambridge and then working where the atom bomb was being developed. This was highly secret information. During her time at Cambridge and then later she was befriended by 2 cousins who were Communists who tried to get her to join the party. She was sympathetic to the cause especially as this was the time when there was the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The cousins encouraged her to steal the secrets of the atomic bomb to pass on to Russia .

United Kingdom on May 02, 2019

Elizabeth Turner: I really looked forward to reading 'Red Joan' and it was engrossing and quite exciting, but for me the characters didn't really seem fully 'fleshed out'. Joan's involvement with Russia was mainly through her relationship with the dodgy (and unconvincing) boyfriend, and it was only after the Americans had bombed Japan that she started passing on information, feeling it should be shared with Britain's ally, so there was no way she could have been 'red'. Obviously this novel is modelled on the Melita Norwood revelation in the 1990s but there isn't very much similarity between the two.

It was a 'good read' and Joan's naivety was well presented as was the feeling that the action really was taking place in the 1940s. Having said that, none of the characters was really three-dimensional: they were almost caricatures and while I vaguely hoped things would turn out well for Joan, i really didn't care that much.

I would have liked to enjoy this much more than I did. Having looked forward to reading it, I was left with a feeling of slight disappointment and wished I'd waited to borrow it from the library!

United Kingdom on May 01, 2013

jerry willetts: I grew up during the cold war era, and remember the case of Melita Norwood being uncovered and reported in the press. I am drawn towards stories of older people melting into normal society, and upon death a life of complete contrast is uncovered much to the amazement of those close to them who thought they new them well (the wartercolour group for instance). The initial seed of the Norwood case has been taken ,by the author and with great skill, woven into a good, inticate, believable, story. The question of an inept secret service, the trade off, the barganing, and the recruitment is fascinating, and, at the end many questions unanswered, a really good read. The Authors note is required reading and reveals the amount of research required, not to mention imagination to produce this work.
Also if you have a few minutes after you have finished the book, it is well worth researching Melita Norwood, her background, and the reports of the day.

United Kingdom on Apr 16, 2013

London Matron: I picked this up by chance in a free paper review and I am SO glad I did.

Look, it's the same old Cold War stuff all over again but it really has a fresh twist. The interweaving of past and present is well done and does not overwhelm as so many writers do when they do this.

Our heroine is a bright girl dragged into a communist group by love and chance. She actually does spy for a reason, an understandable one, and her whole family life is torn apart by what she does. There are not endless twists and turns but enough to intrigue.

I really liked this book - but it is long - indeed I flagged twice - and it might have been just as effective with Joan's many thoughts edited out. But that does not detract from the story. You'll root for her.

Remarkably good.

United Kingdom on Mar 31, 2013