The Rose Code

This book has so many of my favorite elements: believable friendships among three very different women, Bletchley Park during World War II, with spies, and characters I adored: the debutante, the working-class girl, and the girl we’d now say is “on the spectrum.” I loved this book so much that I read everything Kate Quinn wrote, but this one’s still the best.

When Beth is threatened with a lobotomy, the suspense was terrifying. I kept thinking of my aunt whose existence was a family secret for years. I laughed and cried over this book and the women who helped win… show more.

I loved this book!

Three women, all different, all with amazing characters, decoding Nazi transmissions during WWII. I loved the women as their characters developed. And I admit I was chilled and fearful as to how it would turn out since the beginning (almost) tells you the end, but definitely not quite. So, I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.

Not a book I would want to start reading before a work deadline since I would probably be up all night and blow the deadline.

I am fascinated with the work done by women at Bletchley Park, kept as secret knowledge until recently.

The story features three very different women who forge a friendship while working as code breakers until a betrayal tears them apart.  Then after the war, at the royal wedding, they reunite for one last code breaking and the unmasking of a traitor.

I think this is the first of the books I read about WWII women.

The author employs two different time frames to conjure the frantic world of the Enigma codebreakers at Bletchley Park, north of London. The Rose Code follows three women who work in secrecy to defeat the Nazis by decoding secret messages—vivacious debutante Osla, self-made Mab, and shy Beth.

I dig reading about women succeeding in a "man's" world and Quinn’s research is impeccable.

After seeing the film Enigma some years ago, I was curious about the role of women as code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War Two.

The Rose Code delivered richly textured answers to my questions. I loved the characterization of the three main women in the story and was amazed at Quinn’s ability to create very specific and unique women who, despite their many differences, bravely answered their government’s call of duty and broke into a man’s world together.

Part mystery, part love story, and part history, this book was so suspenseful that I had trouble putting it down… show more.

This book was an escapist read for me after many heavy non-fiction tomes, but it was as detailed in facts as any history book.

I was easily swept into the story of three intelligent women working as code breakers at Bletchley Park, England, during World War II.

The three friends, Osla, Beth, and Mab, are not always fair to each other or themselves, but their work and the need to keep it secret binds them together, and an added mystery to solve that eventually breaks the group apart.

Based on actual events and people, it was hard to put down… show more.

I loved it! The Rose Code takes us inside Bletchley Park during the war to follow three women from very different walks of life.

The secrecy, the laws, the damnably hard work take their toll, but even when one of them is institutionalized they remain not only smart but resilient. Quinn immerses us in the setting of Bletchley, where the codes were broken to help win the war. One of those "stay up all night to read it" books!

Three very different women are thrown together when they’re recruited to work at Bletchley Park during World War II. Unlikely friendships—aren’t those the best?—are formed and then put to the test.

I loved the detail, characters, and intrigue in The Rose Code, and how the mystery unravels in different timelines. Kate Quinn is a masterful author of historical fiction, melding fact and fiction together in such a convincing way that she had me searching to separate the two when I finally closed the book. For me, that’s a mark of great historical fiction.

Just to confuse you, this is not the first in Kate Quinn’s series about the World Wars.

The Rose Code is book 3 of 4. But I wanted to continue ahead in time. This book flashes back and forth between 1940 and 1947. This is a heart-stopping, totally gripping story of three women, so different from each other, in Britain’s Bletchley Park, where they’re trained to break German military codes.

War, loss, romance, and secrecy tear them apart, but a traitor brings them back together. Witty, edge-of-my-seat suspense, danger, and romance made it impossible to put down.

Kate Quinn masterfully captures the bravery of the secret of Bletchley Park. The clandestineness that has surrounded the unknown code breakers has always intrigued me. In The Rose Code, we are able to look back in time as the author weaves very different personalities together as she creates a mystery around the already intriguing Bletchley Park women. The story is entertaining with the inclusion of Prince Philip and sleuthing that is worthy of Agatha Christie fans. This is a book that keeps you turning the pages and reading past the ‘one more chapter’ promise.