Book Blurb:
1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter–the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger–and their true enemy–closer.
My Review: 4.5 stars
The Rose Code was another stunning work of historical fiction by one of masters of this genre, Kate Quinn. What I love about Quinn’s writing is her ability to teach the reader about a time, place or aspect of history and bring it to life with an engaging story around it.
The story takes place at Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of the Enigma codebreakers during WWII. I knew about codebreakers but had never heard of Bletchley Park. And I was also unaware of how many women were part of the team. I’ve now added a visit to the Bletchley Park Museum onto my bucket list.
The book centers around three women: Mab, the girl who grew up poor, has a secret she’s carrying from home, and becomes an expert in machinery. Osla, called the “deb” comes from a rich family and her fluency in German aids in the codebreaking process. Beth is the daughter of a demanding, overly religious mother where Mab and Osla were billeting. They recognize Beth’s abilities with crosswords and sneakily get her an interview to work with them at Bletchley. The three go from strangers to co-workers to dear friends and are all bound by the laws that forbid them from ever speaking about their work or time at Bletchley.
The story is told in two timelines both before the war and after. Through that, we can see the women’s growth, except for Beth, who was locked in an asylum for having a breakdown, when really, she found a mole inside Bletchley. With the mystery of who the actual mole is, getting Beth out of the asylum, the upcoming Royal wedding and the instrumental work done at Bletchley, this story is filled with so much history, action, romance, friendship and suspense. Another wonderful book by Quinn.
Quotes I liked:
No one should tell their mother more than one third what they get up to.”
“If he doesn’t love me in a boiler suit, he’s not worth dressing up for in the first place.”
“Are not there little chapters in everybody’s life, Beth had read in Vanity Fair only that morning, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of history?”
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