This historical fiction centers around Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire. You will go back and forth between London and the Bletchley Park during the years 1940 and 1947. The three main characters are Olsa Kendall, a high society debutante who is dismissed as a silly rich girl, yet is fluent in German and French and is an ace code breaker.
Mab Churt is a dynamite 5'11" woman with a mission to better herself from her poor east London childhood. She has a few secrets which are slowly revealed. Mab is also recruited to break German codes. The third woman is Beth Finch and I can tell you ahead of time, you are really going to hate her mother! Beth starts off as a wallflower but her skills and dedication are astounding.
Three women from such different backgrounds who would never cross paths otherwise form an interesting friendship. To complicate their very complex lives comes the discovery of a traitor in their agency. It's a surprise, how it all works out.
The Enigma codebreakers worked tirelessly to serve ther country and can't talk about it to anyone. All the workers recruited, both military and civilan, signed an oath of secrecy. They couldn't talk to one another about what they worked on if they were assigned to different departments or Huts. As you can imagine, this would create problems in their personal relationships outside of Bletchley Park.
The characters were very well developed; the supporting characters included Prince Phillip (before his betrothal to Elizabeth), the mathmatical genuis Alan Turing and many historical figures woven into the storyline.
This advanced copy of The Rose Code was provided to me from LibraryThing and I was not compensated for the review. I loved this book. Be sure to look for a copy when it's published by Harper Collins on June 18, 2021.
Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader for the 2021 Historical Reader Challenge and Joy for British Isles Friday.
I've ordered this one - looking forward to it. Cheers
ReplyDeleteCarole, its very interesting and I couldn't put it down.
DeleteI'm currently reading this. I'm enjoying it so far.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I look forward to your review!
DeleteOh this looks good! I'm fascinated by Bletchley Park and have been wanting to read Kate Quinn since at least 3 books ago so I need to add this to my TBR.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, it's a fat book but I know you will love it.
DeleteI am so obsessed by Bletchley Park I did a project about it for graduate school last spring: https://constancemartin.wixsite.com/bletchley-park
ReplyDeleteNormally, I am a big Kate Quinn fan but for some reason I really disliked all the characters in The Alice Network. I still enjoyed the book but not as much as I had expected. I think I will like this book better.
CLM, thanks for your comment. I think you may like this book better as you are interested in Bletchley park. Thanks also for your link, I have to check that out!
DeleteI enjoyed Kate Quinn's book previously - one about the women pilots The Huntress, outstanding on audiobook. Now you have me interested in this one, was wondering about it.
ReplyDeleteKathryn, it's a big fat book but I wasn't able to put it down. It has me interested in more about what the folks did to break codes during the war.
DeleteI can hardly wait to read this... but I have others I have to read first. Lovely review - thanks!
ReplyDeleteDavida, thank you, it was a good novel. I'd buy anything by Kate Quinn.
DeleteI just requested this book from the library in all formats!
ReplyDeleteMy NaNoWriMo project was about codebreaking in the US in World War II. I was inspired by a nonfiction book that you might like, Code Girls by Liza Mundy. Here's my review: http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2020/10/27/code-girls-by-liza-mundy-bookreview/
Joy, thanks for the link. I will check that out. I have the Lisa Mundy book on hold at the library.
DeleteI am so excited about this one! It sounds fascinating!
ReplyDeleteMarg, I think you'll like it. I have so many planned for the Historical challenge linkup.
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