Stalin’s Sniper: The War Diary of Roza Shanina (Biographical Novels)

Roza Shanina was an exceptional, legendary sniper during World War II, a brave female-soldier known for her beauty, high moral qualities and shooting accuracy. She was credited with fifty-nine confirmed kills, including twelve soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius. And she also kept a diary – a document unique in its content, which reveals to the world the unknown side of war.

Translated for the first time into the English language by a professional translator, the war diary of Roza Shanina is a unique piece of history, since diaries were strictly prohibited in the Soviet military in an effort to preserve secrecy. Not only can we glimpse into the past to a time when war and conflict shaped personalities and turned ordinary men and women into warriors and sometimes heroes, but also experience the war through the eyes of a young—sometimes impressionable, sometimes sensitive, sometimes ruthless—girl.

The diary also serves as the best description of Roza’s personality – a girl who decided to fight for her homeland, to defend the honor and dignity of her country in the ruthless battles against the enemy.

But Roza remained, above all, human – never giving in to the temptation of revenge, capable of empathy, having her own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. All this is best revealed in her diary, to which she entrusted everything and through which she, unknowingly, addressed all people – her unknown readers.