Kate Quinn has planted an Easter Egg in her latest novel about Bletchley Park, the clandestine British think tank which broke the German Enigma codes, The Rose Code (#1,029). Maybe I should say she planted a Faberge egg, since it's related to the royal family!
A socialite, a shop girl and a timid crossword puzzle whiz, all with secrets of their own, walk into a cryptanalyst unit...
The story jumps between two timelines: the unlikely friendship of three women based on their recruitment to work at Bletchley Park during World War II, and the period just before Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip. Codes that Osla, Mab and Beth struggled to break, and which eventually broke apart their friendship, are still at play years later with deadly consequences. The Rose Code is the work of a traitor at Bletchley who is still in a position of influence. Beth, Mab and Osla must overcome their differences to work together to break this seemingly unbreakable code before they lose everything.
It's an engrossing read, based largely on composites of real people, and how in their own ways, they strove to aid the war effort. If travel is ever possible again in our future, I'll add the restored Bletchley Park to my bucket list to visit. If not, The Rose Code will give you a fair idea of how it must have functioned and how valuable their contributions were.
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