Most students who go abroad to study have many interesting tales to tell when they get home. But few, if any, also come back with fantastic stories of smuggling and spying. Fewer still parlay those stories into a Cold War thriller.
Certainly Raelynn Hillhouse is the first Washington University student to do so. The Arts & Sciences graduate has just published a debut novel, Rift Zone, that draws upon her experiences while abroad. It is a tale of espionage, action and danger, taking the reader behind the Iron Curtain and inside the workings of communist East Germany and the Soviet Union.
The newly published book is getting considerable attention, and Hillhouse is embarking on a nationwide promotional tour that will bring her back to town and to campus on Mon., Sept 13. The event will begin at 7 p.m. with a talk called “A Woman Who Smuggles, Spies and Lies,” followed by a question-and-answer period, book signing and reception in Holmes Lounge.
Hillhouse’s heroine engages in all sorts of smuggling and espionage activities, many of which mirror some of the author’s own adventures while an undergraduate and later. She graduated in 1985 with degrees in history and German area studies. While in Germany Hillhouse attended Eberhard-Karls-Universitat in Tubingen, Germany. She spent an additional six years at Humboldt University in Berlin (formerly East Berlin), and also studied at Bebes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania. She earned a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies and a doctorate in political science at the University of Michigan.