The Huntress by Kate Quinn

(Spoilers Ahead)

I read The Huntress by Kate Quinn last December as book club read.  This was my first Kate Quinn novel.  I had heard great things about The Alice Network and after reading this book, I made sure to "steal" The Alice Network at my other book club's holiday white elephant gift exchange.  I haven't read that one yet because I am waiting to discuss The Huntress at book club next week first so that I don't mix the two up.

I finished this book one month, and 21 books ago.  I have a feeling this "summary" is going to be fairly vague based on my horrible ability to recall the details of the books I read.  But, let's give this a shot!

The thing about this book I really liked is how the story line jumped in time and in narrator.  So part of the time you were getting the story of "present day" (post WWII) told by 17 year old Jordan who is the only child of her widowed father, an antique restorer.  Other times you were hearing from journalist Ian who has left wartime journalism to now seek out war criminals and try to bring them to justice.  You also heard from Nina (my absolute favorite character). Her story line was always in the past.  About growing up in rural Russia, about her dream of flying, about becoming one of the Night Witches as part of an all women flying brigade during the war and of course about her interaction with The Huntress.  Lastly you hear from Annaliese ("Anna") who you quickly figure out is "The Huntress."

So the story jumps around, but not in a bad way.  This book was so well written. I wasn't initially super excited about picking up another WWII historical fiction but once I was about 30 pages in I could already tell I was going to fall in love with these characters.

Jordan was a strong-willed and independent young woman in a time where that wasn't the norm.  She cared deeply for her father and was genuinely happy for him when Anna and her daughter (whose name I have completely forgotten...) entered their lives.  Jordan has a passion for photography and one day catches a picture of Anna with a look that just raises Jordan's sixth sense and makes her more watchful.

Over time Jordan discovers things like inaccuracies in Anna's stories involving her deceased husband and a story about a woman trying to attack her and her daughter.  Her daughter is very reserved and shy and takes a long time to warm up to the family.  Jordan discovers Nazi paraphernalia tucked into Anna's bridal bouquet on the day she marries Jordan's father.  All these things keep adding up an she ultimately confronts her father and Anna about her concerns.  Anna makes excuses and her father supports them.  Although we later learn that maybe her father didn't 100% believe them.

Ian and his sidekick Tony (whom I also adore) get a lead on The Huntress that she is in the US and they call upon the only one of The Huntress's victims to survive, Nina, to help them in the search.  You learn that Ian actually married Nina five years before to help her with citizenship.  They head to the US to begin the search.  This trio is something else. Nina and Ian fight like brothers and sisters but then begin to kindle romance that they never had before. Ian was indebted to Nina for helping his brother (who ultimately was killed by The Huntress).  Their love story flourishes and in the end, they agree to "stay together" for a designated amount of time, like a contract. Nina has serious commitment issues.

While learning Nina's story, you learn about the Night Witches. You learn about Nina's first true love, another woman.  As you read their story, you are convinced this woman is going to die in a plane and you are preparing yourself for that heartbreak for so long.  Ultimately, she doesn't die, but instead it is her fear of the gay relationship that separates them. Nina has to flee the Night Witches because she is going to be charged with war crimes as a result of her father's actions.  She tries to get her love interest to leave with her (yep, can't remember her name for the life of me), but she won't go. She tells Nina that after the war she wants to raise a family. Have babies.  Not live a life in hiding.  If my memory serves me, I believe we find out she ended up living with another woman and raising that woman's child in what we assume is a lesbian relationship.

After Nina goes AWOL from the Night Witches, she crashes her plane and that is where she meets Ian's brother.  They trek together through brutal Russian winter and sadly come upon the Huntress's home, which is where Ian is killed.  Nina is almost killed but she jumps in a lake and escapes.  The Huntress actually maintains a fear of this "woman from the water" and confesses to Jordan she has nightmares about a woman coming out of the water bloody and attacking her.

This nightmare ultimately gets used against her.  Jordan joins up with Tony and Ian and Nina to capture Anna and save the young girl (who we learn was taken after Anna killed her mother).  They set up a plan to recreate Anna's nightmare with Nina coming out of the water.

At the end of the book, Anna is tried and charged with a crime (although I don't think it was as harsh as they hoped).  The young girl stays with Jordan (who has a relationship with Tony) and Nina and Ian make their pact.

This summary could literally be a short novel in itself if I allowed it to be.  But I think I achieved my goal which was to recall enough to be a good contributor during book club discussion next week.  This story had war, love, crime, mystery, gay relationships, the struggles of maintaining boundaries in journalism, and more.  It was so good. I loved every minute of it.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐