The Diamond Eye

The Diamond Eye is a work of historical fiction published in 2022 by Kate Quinn. The novel’s main subject is the World War II experiences of Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko and her turn from soldier to cultural representative as she journeyed to the United States and befriended First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The work is largely based on Pavlichenko’s memoir, and Quinn includes extensive further reading in the work’s back matter. Much of Quinn’s subsequent work concentrates on the roles of women in war, including The Alice Network (2017), The Huntress (2019), and The Rose Code (2021), several of which have been New York Times and USA Today bestsellers.

Content Warning: This work depicts sexual assault and includes graphic descriptions of wartime violence.

Plot Summary

The work follows two timelines: Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko’s life and wartime efforts from 1937 to 1941, and her 1942 trip to the United States. The American scenes are told from three points of view: Mila, Eleanor Roosevelt, and an unnamed American sniper hoping to frame Mila for the assassination of President Roosevelt. The novel opens with the assassin’s point of view; his narrative conveys his belief that Mila’s illustrious wartime sniping record is a propaganda fabrication and his eagerness to see her blamed for the president’s death. As Eleanor watches the delegation arrive, she is filled with inexplicable anxiety.

The narrative shifts back to Mila for several chapters, introducing her main struggles and preoccupations in 1937 when she is only 21 and her son is five. She is a single mother whose estranged husband, Alexei, abandoned her and their son when she was only a teenager. Alexei disparages her accomplishments and enjoys his power over her, regularly refusing to give her a divorce. When she decides to perfect her shooting skills to show her son that she can fulfill roles of both father and mother, she finds herself unexpectedly skilled at advanced marksmanship.

Haunted by the mistakes of her past (especially those involving marriage), Mila becomes obsessed with living an error-free life, and she finds shooting comforting for its clear standards of success. Her instructor says the skill will prove useful in the coming war. In 1941, Mila is a student in Odessa, studying history and working as a library researcher. Her focus on her senior thesis is shattered when the Germans invade, and she enlists to preserve her son’s future. Mila quickly befriends a medic, Lena Paliy. Though some officers doubt her skills, one captain is willing to test Mila and discovers her talent for sniper shooting; she begins eliminating enemy officers from a distance to protect the army’s position and advance. Mila’s sniper work often unnerves outsiders, especially because a woman is doing the shooting. She befriends another skilled shooter, Kostia Shevelyov, who shares her love of books. She soon trains other soldiers in sharpshooting, promising to avenge a girl who was sexually assaulted by German officers.

Mila is wounded not long before Odessa is abandoned to the Germans, and on the boat to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, she is stunned to learn that the medic is her husband, Alexei. She is reunited with Kostia in Sevastopol and meets a dashing lieutenant, Lyonya Kitsenko, who wins her heart after he saves her life and demonstrates his respect both for her shooting and her humanity. Kostia is also in love with her but respects her choice of them remaining best friends dedicated to their work. Mila learns that he has American relatives and is fluent in English—facts he conceals due to their political danger in Stalin’s regime. The two successfully use a scarecrow as a decoy to lure out a German sniper, and their success catapults Mila to fame. Alexei is increasingly jealous and angered by her new relationships, though Mila is eager to divorce him and marry Lyonya. These wartime narratives are interspersed with Mila’s first days in the United States, where she is uncomfortable with American curiosity about how a woman can be a sniper or bring herself to kill. When Mila defends her wartime efforts and insists she is motivated by national defense, the American sniper, who is watching her, decides she is emotional and will be easy to frame as the culprit in his planned assassination of the president.

Lyonya is tragically killed in Sevastopol in October 1941, and Mila and Kostia go into deep mourning. Soon afterward, Mila is injured and evacuated from the surrendering city, certain her friends are all dead. She is ordered to Moscow, where she trains snipers and learns that Kostia is alive. She is then ordered on a propaganda tour of the United States in the hope that her delegation’s participation in an international conference will increase American support for the Soviet war effort. To Mila’s dismay, Alexei is to accompany her, but she asks that Kostia come along as an interpreter. Mila soon bonds with Eleanor, who takes a liking to her and is eager to support the wartime alliance. Kostia professes his love for her, and soon afterward, a talk with Eleanor leads Mila to realize that her fear of taking risks in her personal life has been detrimental. Mila’s tour in the United States is extended to multiple cities, so the anonymous sniper adopts the guise of an American businessman, William Jonson, who is in love with her; he even gives her diamond jewelry as part of the act. After a shooting demonstration in Chicago, he realizes that she is actually a sniper, and he grows more emotionally invested in her demise. He wants to kill her personally and decides to enlist Alexei in this cause. Mila’s husband now wants to reconcile, hoping her fame will benefit him, but he ignores her refusals and desire to lead her own life.

Mila embraces happiness with Kostia, who is torn between returning to Russia and making a life with his American family in New York. On her last night in Washington, Mila notices that her “admirer,” Jonson, has mannerisms indicating he is a fellow sniper. She finds his shooting nest and pursues her adversary into the capital’s Rock Creek Park, wearing the diamonds he sent her. She uses them as a lure by placing them on a dummy; the trap fools the sniper, whom Mila shoots before he realizes his mistake. Alexei tries to kill Mila as revenge and to prevent her from revealing his part in the plot, but she taunts him with the reminder that she is famous and he is virtually unknown. She kills him, ending the threat he has always posed to her freedom.

Mila proposes to Kostia, who has decided to stay with her. She is joyfully reunited with her son months later. In the Epilogue, Mila meets Eleanor again, happy to see her beloved friend and reflect on the life she has made for herself in peacetime. She plans to write her memoirs, though they will omit much of her stay in Washington and her ill-fated marriage to Alexei.

The Diamond Eye is an emotionally intense, nuanced exploration of certain wartime realities for women in a patriarchal society. As Quinn crafts the twists and turns of the assassination plot, she weaves a psychological journey that includes themes of Trauma and Recovery, Emotional Bonds in Wartime, and Gender Norms and the Nature of Heroism.