Red Joan: A Novel

“Rooney is a novelist at home with life’s ambiguities, her plotting pleasingly intricate, her narrative richly textured. As the needle swings around her moral compass, her characters are contradictory, our sympathies for them similarly so. Even though I kept remembering the opening vignette, in which Joan is shown to be the sort of granny who steals geranium cuttings from her neighbour’s garden, her realistic vulnerability won my affection.” —Telegraph (UK)“An exciting and intelligent novel. . . . Rooney’s re-creation of the politics of the day is brilliant.” —The Times “Rooney has already shown herself to be a marvelous portrait artist of character in her previous two novels. . . . This is an infectious page-turner, as crafty and nuanced and impassioned as any classic thriller, but one that doesn't forget where its heart is . . . and is a case study in how to handle complex characters and motivations, keeping the reader on tenterhooks until the work's final moments.” —The National“Red Joan is a captivating tale. . . . Jennie Rooney’s elegantly cra­fted tale moves fluidly.”—Chatelaine"A brilliant spy novel, with a deft, involving plot… tense, beautifully pitched and very moving."—Marie Claire"A page-turning saga of spies, conflicted loyalty, and the grave consequences of good intentions."—Publishers Weekly"Rooney has created a wonderful narrative structure [that] elegantly presents a woman who was living a 'calm and contented existence' when MI5 came knocking on her door."—Kirkus Reviews"Red Joan's strength lies in the complex personal relationships that underpin the spying game… A powerfully written exploration of the far-reaching consequences that even the smallest-seeming actions can have."—Literary Review"An absorbing, intelligent tale."—The Seattle Times“In contrast to standard-issue espionage yarns in the Le Carré mould, with their frenzied and tortuous mole-hunts, Rooney has set the bar high for herself. . . . But this ‘whydunnit’ generates plenty of suspense as well. . . . Red Joan craftily braids a fictitious plot into the history of a secretive and little-known breakthrough.” —The Independent