The Rose Code

The Rose Code has been a fan favourite since it published earlier this year. The story is set in England in WWII and mixes fact with fiction, including some historical figures and others inspired by real people. But the main focus is on a trio of young women who worked at a remote British government location known as Bletchley Park and it's this spotlight on the important (and often ignored) contributions women made in wartime that was most appealing to me.

Prepare for an unpopular opinion review ..

This is a biggie of a book at 624 pages, and it has a great premise, but it felt like it was much longer than it had to be. The execution of the story was weak and meandered too much with more focus on the love lives of Osla, Mab and Beth than the action and intrigue I was expecting. I was in it for the codebreaking and women's roles in the war and unfortunately when I did get a glimpse, the descriptions of the code breaking equipment and techniques were hard to envision. 

What Quinn excels at is clearly illustrating the stressors Bletchley Park staffers faced - the pressure/threat to not breach the Official Secrets Act, working extremely long hours and the friendships made between this group of people who were thrown together in high-pressure jobs dealing daily with matters of life and death. The British colloquialisms were a nice touch - even if Osla's overuse of the word 'absolutely topping' grated after awhile.

The story is told in two timelines - one of which was centred around the countdown to the Royal wedding which was an odd choice since it didn't have much bearing on the story except for a secondary, superfluous (and perhaps gimmicky?) plot involving Prince Phillip. The overall momentum is agonizingly drawn out and the action doesn't happen until the last 100 pages when the identity of a mysterious character was finally revealed with a surprising and frustrating casualness. 

In the end, this highly hyped book didn't meet my expectations. It was an okay read with a great setting and premise, but the story was too drawn out and I was frustrated that there was more fluff than substance with more focus given to the love lives of these women instead of their vital contributions and treatment during the war.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Kate Quinn

Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)

Type and Source: Trade Paperback (personal copy)

Publisher: William Morrow Books

First Published: March 9, 2021

Opening Lines: "I wish I was a woman of about thirty-six, 

dressed in black satin with a string of pearls,'" 

Mab Churt read aloud. "That's the first sensible 

thing you've said, you silly twit."

Book Description from GoodReads: 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.