The Soviet Sisters: A Novel of the Cold War

Scott’s (The German Heiress) latest gut-wrenching audiobook, told in alternating chapters, offers countering viewpoints of two Soviet sisters whose lives are filled with emotional upheaval and self-sacrifice. Marya (voiced by Yelena Shmulenson) is a language interpreter stationed in the Soviet zone of Berlin and the younger sister of Vera (voiced by Kirsten Potter), a high-ranking official in the Ministry for State Security (MGB) who was dispatched to Berlin to covertly investigate Marya’s potentially traitorous actions. Potter shines as Vera as she hustles to protect her younger sister without breaking the stern, severe demeanor she maintains in public. Equally matched, Shmulenson gives Marya a vulnerability and compassion evident in her friendship with Felix, romance with Henry, and love of her family and country. Both narrators deliver pitch-perfect performances with well-conceived character voices. Listeners will be mesmerized as they follow the twists, turns, and torture that Marya endures to protect those she loves and the hoops Vera jumps through to save her sister.