The Communist's Secret

A Novel

Suzanne Parry

• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781647429355
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

From former Pentagon official and award-winning historical novelist Suzanne Parry comes The Communist’s Secret—a haunting WWII novel of betrayal, bravery, and second chances.

In 1941, Katya Karavayeva, a devoted Communist, has broken the most important rule in Soviet society: Never say anything that can be used against you. Before she comes to terms with the consequences of her actions, Nazi Germany invades and the Soviet Union mobilizes. Katya joins the volunteer militia and is sent toward the onrushing Germans to build defensive earthworks. In a few short weeks, the militia is under attack.

Katya escapes with another volunteer and they spend harrowing weeks on the run. Eventually, she lands in a town under Nazi occupation. There, Katya finds a place and a purpose and learns to fight a different kind of war, repaying German brutality with a harsh justice of her own. By turns desperate, courageous, and conflicted, she battles the Nazis and her inner demons while dreaming of redemption and reunion with her family.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Author’s Note
• Midsummer in Leningrad
• The Volunteer Corps
• The First Attack
• The Luga Line Disintegrates
• Escape From Luga
• The Village
• On the Run
• Mother Nature Strikes
• Lake Ilmen
• Masha and the Collective
• The Germans Pay a Visit
• Leaving the Collective
• Into Staraya Russa
• Arkady Romashkin
• The Textile Factory
• Settling in
• Anna Weissman
• The Kommandant
• The Truth About Svet
• The Red Coat
• The Ravine
• The Romashkin Home
• Cat and Mouse
• The Turning Point
• The Noose Tightens
• A New War
• The Trap Is Sprung
• Hitler’s Birthday
• Revenge and Regret
• The Partisans
• The Encampment
• Konstantin
• Alone Among the Partisans
• The Railway Attack
• The End of Katya’s War
• Leningrad Liberated
• A Place To Belong
• Searching for the Central Committee
• Train To Exile
• Irkutsk
• Lake Baikal
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
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