The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn has done it again.  If you liked her novel The Alice Network you will fall in love with this novel.  It's detailed, informative and has me yearning to know more about the men and women who worked in secrecy for their goverment to help break codes during WW II.

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.

Happy  reading!

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

 

Once again, Kate Quinn has written a story with compelling characters.  Quinn’s previous novel, The Alice Network, was hard to put down and she’s done it again with The Huntress.  We have several unique points of view telling their stories about WW II.

Ian Graham was a war correspondent but he’s burnt out after witnessing so much horror.  Currently Ian and his partner Tony are Nazi hunters.  The big score would be the elusive Die Jägerin – a female killer (the Huntress) who mercilessly killed anyone in her path, including women and children. Ian Graham has a personal interest in her as she is evidently responsible for his young soldier brother’s death.

Nina is a Russian aviator with quite an interesting back story. She is a Siberian “night witch” who flies with her all female comrades in WW II.  I really felt for Nina, all she endured, yet she’s the toughest of the bunch. Dangerous, skillful, sexy and extremely driven.  Our author did her homework about the Russian female aviators.  There really was a “night witch” group who served their country.

Last and certainly not least is Jordan McBride.  She's a young woman living with her widowed father in Boston.  She has a passion for photography, her dream job would be a photographic journalist, traveling the world.   In the 1950's a career is not encouraged, as much as sh'd love to attend college her father doesn't approve.  When dad meets a young German widow his life changes, as does Jordan's life.  Her story dovetails with the other three mentioned above.does Jordan’s life. 

I enjoyed every story line, every perspective and can recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Alice Network.  Once again Kate Quinn hits it out of the park.

Foodie references weren’t abundant but Nina could tuck into a hamburger with such gusto that Ian enjoyed watching her enthusiasm. She had a style of putting jam in tea (I’m not trying that) and there were mentions of borscht, a Thanksgiving dinner and 1950/60’s comfort food from the McBride’s kitchen.

Thanks to LibraryThing for the advanced readers copy of this book.