Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn.
Okay, so remember when I said last semester that there are four authors I always zero in on? I’ve now reviewed books from two of them, and I cannot believe I’ve waited this long to review a book by the one and only Kate Quinn.
When I tell you this woman is the queen of historical fiction, I am not exaggerating. Every single one of her books, from “The Alice Network” to “The Diamond Eye,” is a stunning untold story of women in the World Wars, as they defy expectations and repaint the fabric of our world history.
From boring old history class, we’ve inherited the narrative that one white male by the name of Alan Turing should get all the credit for breaking the German Enigma machine. But Quinn tells a different story. “The Rose Code” focuses on three women who are recruited to work at Bletchley Park, a mysterious country estate home to thousands of British minds trained to break German Nazi codes. From beautifully breezy Osla Kendall to delightfully serious Mab Churt to wonderfully odd Beth Finch, each woman comes from a different place in society, but they quickly bond and gradually create a home at Bletchley.
One reason why I love this book so much is because each of the three main characters has a distinct story. Osla initially comes off as flippant and careless, but in reality, she has been trained by society to hide behind carefree comments to avoid commitment or getting hurt. And yet, when she meets the dashing Prince Philip of Greece, those walls slowly fall. Mab, serious and settling for nothing less than the most respectable man, finds exactly that in Francis Gray. Grounded, thoughtful and observant, he is everything she could have imagined. Beth, who was raised in a religious household and inexperienced in the romance department, falls for Harry Zarb, a fellow codebreaker who is married and has a son. As the war goes on, each woman embarks on a unique journey of love, longing and loss, experiencing moments at their own pace and showing that there is no one straight path to finding happiness.
This book also really gets to the heart of how complicated close friendships can be. Bottom line? It’s always going to be hard, and it always takes work. At one point, Mab falls into a lengthy depressive state because her husband and daughter are killed in a bombing that Beth knew about from her codebreaking work. She refused to forgive Beth, and Beth also refused to apologize for not breaking her oath to never disclose any intelligence. Both refused to look the other in the eye, and yet, years later when Beth needed to be rescued from an asylum, Mab was there by her side. As with some of the strongest friendships, words will always be left unsaid, and some regrets will never be forgiven.
But, on the other side of that hill, we can all find a place called home.
