Lady of the Snakes
Posted by: misha
Lady of the Snakes by Rachel Pastan poses the question that many women have been asking themselves in the modern age–can women manage to successfully juggle their career, motherhood and marriage?
Jane Levitsky is a young, determined academic who had an unplanned pregnancy along the way to her pursuit of tenure. She did marry the love of her life, Billy, who moves with her and their daughter Maisie to the midwest where she begins her career as a professor. Jane’s real burning passion is for the writing of once-obscure Russian writer, Grigory Karkov, as well as the diaries of his wife, Maria (Masha) Karkova.
Jane’s home life founders as she digs deeper into the lives of the Karkovs and goes in search of the mystery behind Karkov’s wife and muse. As her world unravels, Jane must decide what is more important–her daughter and husband, or her desire for academic recognition. Add to that a duplicitous retired professor who has a huge stake in Grigory Karkov’s legacy, and what he views as Jane’s threat to that legacy.
While Pastan’s book has its flaws, she creates two stories that will create a lot to talk about and that will keep you reading to the end.
