The Diamond Eye

Alone with Franklin, Eleanor regrets that she may have damaged a relationship with Mila, although her comment was meant to highlight the naivete of Americans, not to disparage wartime valor. She senses that her husband is interested in using Mila to pursue his foreign policy goal of a two-front war. Eleanor reflects that her husband has a habit of relying on women to carry out his agenda. She wonders if his political enemies understand that victory in the war depends on him.

The narrative returns to Sevastopol, where Mila is in the hospital arguing with Alexei about her new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and mandatory rest period. Mila, overcome with grief, asks Alexei whether he took advantage of Lyonya’s injury to eliminate his rival. He responds in outrage, telling her that Lyonya’s wound was too serious to treat. Mila remains in the hospital for weeks, thinking of Lyonya and haunted by regrets: “Too late to marry him. Too late to avenge him. Too late for everything” (249).

Kostia visits Mila, telling her the men need her, but Mila shows him that her hands have not stopped shaking since Lyonya’s death. He takes her for a drive, and they get drunk at Lyonya’s grave. Mila notices that Kostia personally wrote the details for the marker. Kostia tells Mila about his youth with Lyonya. While the other young men at technical school mocked Kostia for his background, Lyonya offered him real friendship. Finally, Kostia tells her that they both owe it to Lyonya to continue the fight. They cry together, and Mila finds her hand is now steady.

Mila’s narration recounts the spring of 1942 and the gradually emerging certainty that the Red Army was outnumbered and that surrender of the city was likely: Mila encounters a Komsomol (Communist Youth League) leader and his exhausted band of teenagers who were brought to aid in the city’s defense, and she realizes that their hold on the city is truly doomed. In combat that day, she fires to wound rather than kill, hoping to slow the invading ranks. Mila’s last days of fighting are brutal: When she and Kostia find a mortally wounded Fyodor Sedykh, they shoot him to end his suffering. Soon after, Mila is hit by a mortar shell and loses consciousness.

Mila wakes on a submarine and learns she has been evacuated. A soldier on the submarine tells her that Lena is dead. Mila finds her belongings, including Kostia’s copy of War and Peace. Overcome by the knowledge he may be dead as well, she breaks down. When the submarine docks, Mila is taken to the hospital in the city of Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in Russia’s Krasnodar region. In search of her new orders, she meets General Petrov again. They discuss, tersely, that Sevastopol has been abandoned to the enemy. Thinking he is comforting her, the general reports that Alexei is safe, though her comrades are likely all dead. Mila tells him she wants to command troops and receive officer training. He orders her to come with him to Moscow for a new assignment.

In Moscow, Mila is unhappily training future snipers while longing for combat. Her mother visits her, and Mila finds the conversation difficult, as she has no interest in her growing fame. Her mother hands her a letter from Kostia, her first confirmation that he has survived. He writes that he is coming to Moscow and is still recovering from a severe knee injury. Overjoyed, Mila finally agrees to take her mother sightseeing.

The scene changes to a meeting with a propagandist, who informs Mila that her new mission is a different theater of combat. She is stunned to see Alexei there. He smugly says, “‘Hello, kroshka.’ He kissed both my cheeks in easy greeting. ‘We’re going to America’” (268).

The scene opens in Washington, DC, with the anonymous sniper annoyed that he has yet another client meeting. He assures the client that Mila is not truly a sniper and that she remains a suitable target for their plot.

The narrative shifts to Mila’s point of view and her dismay at being sent abroad rather than back to combat. Mila despairs at the idea that any conference can change the course of the war. She is also furious that Alexei has been included as her spouse and as delegation doctor. She tells him, “You are trading on my name to get out of frontline service and into a cushy post” (274). As the trip goes on, she is disconcerted to notice he constantly suggests they spend time together. Mila reflects bitterly that her inclusion on the delegation was a matter of debate, as women were considered less politically reliable due to their emotions.

Although Mila is unhappy that Alexei is part of the delegation, she has used her status to ensure that Kostia is also included, as official interpreter, so that she will have a supportive presence. After delivering a speech at a press conference at the Soviet embassy, Mila finds that most of the journalists have questions for her. They are obsessed with her appearance and the novelty of a woman sniper. Mila then encounters Eleanor Roosevelt, who apologizes for the intrusive questions. Mila is struck by the First Lady’s lack of pretensions, despite her wealthy background.

That evening, Mila and Kostia sneak off to smoke, speaking privately for the first time in weeks. She reflects that they have yet to find the same ease with one another that they once had. He has been changed by his injury and chronic pain, and he often uses a cane to walk. Kostia asks Mila if she still has Vartanov’s pipe. He explains that the older man is dead, along with everyone else they knew. Before they can say more, Eleanor invites Mila to ride with her from the embassy back to the White House.

To her surprise, Mila finds the ride terrifying, as the First Lady is fond of high speeds and sudden turns. Eleanor gives Mila strategic advice about which dinner guests will be receptive to her war stories. When Mila expresses frustration about a second front, Eleanor explains the demands of the Pacific war and Roosevelt’s fragile coalition. When Mila, slightly chastened, explains that the idea of Americans entering the European war is key to Red Army morale, Eleanor tells her gently that it will be important for Mila to personalize her struggle for American audiences. Though Mila is uncomfortable with this, thinking that the war itself is all that matters, she assures the First Lady, “[W]hen I take aim at something, I do not miss” (286).