This is a very well researched novel about a little-known character who was a significant person in the Communist Party in the 1920s despite her growing up in American. It's very enjoyable and well-written and a chance to learn about a little-known person in history.
China, 1927. Thirty-three-year-old Rayna Prohme, accompanying her left-wing journalist husband, becomes the political confidante and lover of Mikhail Borodin, the Russian commander sent to prop up a failing Chinese revolution. In a bid to continue their love affair, Rayna hatches a plan to accompany Mme. Sun, the widow of the Chinese revolution's founder, to Moscow. But Moscow doesn't welcome the women. Borodin shuns them. Rayna's stipend and her housing arrangements are cancelled. "Go home," she is told.
But Rayna does not want to go home to an ordinary life, to her husband and Chicago. Instead, she applies to a Soviet-espionage school that soon demands she spy on Mme. Sun. The Chinese widow is, by now, in grave danger as her exit visa is blocked. Rayna must make a choice — Borodin and Russia or Mme. Sun and China.
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