The Rose Code

This page contains affiliate links, and we may receive compensation if you click on a link. You can read my full advertising disclosure HERE.

Manufacturer: Kate Quinn
Brand: Historical Fiction
Brew: Paperback
Steeping Time: 624 pages
Tea Service: Book Club
Strength:

Synopsis: 1940, Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.

Three very different women are recruited to the mysterious Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.

Vivacious debutante Osla has the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, working to translate decoded enemy secrets. Self-made Mab masters the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and the poverty of her East-End London upbringing. And shy local girl Beth is the outsider who trains as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysis.

1947, London.

Seven years after they first meet, on the eve of the royal wedding between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, disaster threatens. Osla, Mab and Beth are estranged, their friendship torn apart by secrets and betrayal. Yet now they must race against the clock to crack one final code together, before it’s too late, for them and for their country.

I never thought I could love a book more than The Alice Network, yet here we are.

How do I use mere words to describe the intense emotions I feel toward The Rose Code? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully put into words how much I love this book. But I’ll give it a go.

The Rose Code is a gritty, authentic look at WWII-era England and the amazing codebreaking work that those at Bletchley Park did for the war effort. The three main characters, Osla, Mab, and Beth, are genuine to their core and were so incredibly easy to connect with. I felt every moment of their stories in the depths of my soul, and they will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I love books like The Rose Code because they have such a profound impact.

Not only does Kate Quinn weave a gripping story set amongst the secrets of WWII, but she connects the reader to a real time and place where people gave their all for the fight. Again, I can’t emphasize enough how real and genuine these characters are. I want to wrap each of them up in a big fluffy blanket and protect them from all the evil in the world!

The pace is quick, as the book covers almost the entirety of the war years, plus the aftermath a few years later, but I never felt that the story was rushed. The tone of this book is overall very gritty and raw. You are experiencing the lows of the war alongside the characters, as well as their personal highs, and you can almost feel the state of the world these women were living in as if you were there yourself. I was completely immersed in their world and I was so disappointed when it was over.

I love that Kate Quinn bases many of her characters on real-life people. Osla Kendall, for example, is based around Osla Benning. Prince Phillip is probably the most obvious real character to many readers, but other characters are based in history, too. Beth is an amalgamation of two women who worked at BP, and Harry is a combination of two men who worked there as well. One thing I love about that is that it keeps alive the stories of those who actually did the work. I hope to do the same in the book I’m currently writing, and if my finished book can be half as good as any of Kate Quinn’s raw first drafts, I can die a happy woman.

If you can’t tell yet, I adored this book.

I loved the storyline, the setting, the ups, the downs, the triumphs. There were moments that I cried, moments where I laughed, and moments that I felt such acute rage that I wanted to set the world on fire. Even as I write this review, my eyes are brimming with tears for The Rose Code. It was just so good.

I’m incredibly lucky to have read The Rose Code at this moment in my life. My husband and I are headed for England and Wales on 18 April 2022 and we’ll be near enough to Bletchley Park to visit. Is it 3 hours out of our way in the wrong direction? Yes. Is that going to stop me from walking in the footsteps of the amazing people that worked there during WWII? Absolutely not. Maybe if I look hard enough, I’ll find Osla, Mab, and Beth breaking codes and saving the world. (If you want to see what our trip was like, you can check out the vlog here!)

Have you read The Rose Code? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia