I really loved this book. I fell in love with the characters and the story line. It takes us through the Second World War and the going ons at Bletchley Park from a woman's point of view. And yes we are aware of the role that women played during the war but what fascinated me was the fact that they had to return to ordinary lives without getting any credit for the part they played. Anyway its a great book!

Great characters and a “ spiffing “ plot make this a very enjoyable , though rather long, story of three girls who become best friends while working at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
As the narrative switches between 1947 and the preceding war years we are drawn into their lives and loves but also into the realisation that something happened in that time to shatter their friendship. It is not only the secrets of Bletchley Park but also the mystery of why they now hate each other and the hope that they will resolve their differences that make this a page-turner.

What a great story. It tells of three women from totally different backgrounds who work on breaking the German cyphers at Bletchley Park during the 2nd world war. It has everything from spies, to romance and code breakers. It gives a good description and a better understanding of how Bletchley worked and how they kept their secrets. The best book I have read for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the advance copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this book! The writing drew me in and I could feel the vibe of the 1940‘s come off the page. I had to actively stop myself from reading more and more because it had already gone 2 am. The characters were all so different from each other but all three leading ladies were lovely and well-developed characters. I loved all three of them and dint want to the story to end.

Mabels story got me particularly emotional.The Rose Code was my first book by Kate Quinn and it certainly will not have been my last. I‘m thankful i was allowed to read this in advance and am excited for the world to read it.

It’s 1940, and as Britain prepares for war three very different women answer the call to Bletchley Park. Debutante Osla, determined to prove she’s more than a fluffy society girl, self-made Mab, keen to rise from east-end poverty, and quiet, downtrodden Beth, anxious about life from under her mother’s firm ruling. Soon the unlikely trio, trained to break enemy military codes, are the best of friends. Until the pressures of war tears them apart.

In 1947, post-war Britain is whipped into a frenzy for the upcoming Royal wedding and three friends who vowed never to speak again are brought back together by a mysterious encrypted letter. Buried within it’s ciphers, the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship. A traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now the three women must unite to break one last code - The Rose Code.


This book, as Osla would say, is absolutely topping!

I was desperate to devour it but forced my self not to rush, allowing myself to be fully submerged in the story. I love history, specifically WWII and the efforts of those that at first glance aren’t so obvious. After loving ‘The Alice Network’ I knew that with Quinn’s ability to weave fact and fiction together so effortlessly, and yet respectfully, this would be another hit for me.

The story is told from the points of view of the three main protagonists, but also across a dual timeline. This is done so cleverly, using reminisces and specific plot points, that at no point does it become confusing. Each of the characters voices are so diverse that as the reader you really get to appreciate how wartime affected people differently. How every man and woman’s experience was unique, and how imposing it was on their lives.

Whilst this story is full of loss and grief, it is also full of romance, friendship and most importantly, good old British camaraderie. There were many times throughout this book that I felt my laughter bubbling up at the comical antics wartime and the ‘live like it’s your last’ attitude summoned in people. How marvellously terrifying it must have been!

I would highly recommend this book to all, but especially those already fans of Quinn or the historical fiction genre. Not only will this story sweep you along on a tide of suspense but you’ll learn a lot on the way too.

Welcome to Bletchley Park, home of Britain's codebreakers in WW2. In the white hot crucible of the race to break the Nazi enigma codes three very different women forge deep friendships which are then ripped apart.

Osla is a wealthy debutante, god-daughter to Lord Mountbatten and girlfriend to Prince Phillip of Greece, fluent in German and tired of doing nothing she wants to contribute to the war effort, she is invited to Bletchley Park, or BP, in 1940 to help break the German military codes. Mab(el) is an Amazon from Shoreditch supporting her mother and little sister. Her total focus is to find an intelligent, financially stable man to marry. Beth has grown up subservient to her religious fanatic mother. These three women meet up at Bletchley Park and their lives are changed forever.

The Imitation Game meets The Crown, told in flashbacks between 1940 and 1947 on the eve of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, this is a dramatisation of historical truth, a spy thriller, a romance. Utterly engrossing, even though I didn't really understand how these women helped to decrypt encoded messages from the enemy, my heart was in my mouth as the team of plucky geniuses worked around the clock to try to decode messages from German high command.

Thrilling, heart-rending, gritty and vivid, a great read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I came about this book for a strange reason. The author Jill Mansell was asking on Twitter how she could request it on Net Galley as she was desperate to read it – so I hopped on to check it was a normal request and did that – a few weeks later it popped into my Net Galley account! Thankfully it would appear Jill also managed to get a copy – as her comments about it are mentioned on Amazon
‘Immersive, thrilling and packed with wonderful characters…I absolutely loved every page of this incredible book’ Jill Mansell, bestselling author of Maybe This Time

Here’s the blurb (which actually probably wouldn’t have prompted me to request it, as I’m not a historical novel fan. In fact I’m not a historical TV programme watcher either (although I did make an exception for Bridgerton, obvs!)):

“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 cryptanalysts.
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.”

The two timelines run concurrently through the book – initially with Osla and Mab being recruited by Bletchley Park – and then the run up to the Royal Wedding 7 years later. You know that the friends have become estranged – but you don’t know why – and this was really intriguing.

The intertwining of fact and fiction was incredibly clever – from the Royal family itself, to the codebreakers at Bletchley (including the current Duchess of Cambridge’s Grandmother and her twin sister!) and more famous codebreakers like Alan Turing and Dilly Knox. Bletchley Park itself has a starring role which was more exciting for me than it would have been a few months ago, as our construction company is currently doing some work there (not the museum bit – but the other ‘huts’ that have been sold off over the years). I also need to admit to being a bit of a maths geek – so the code breaking itself was also really interesting.

Osla is desperate to prove she’s not ‘just a deb’, whilst Mab wants to better herself and marry well having escaped her East End home. Their friendship and various relationships inside and outside Bletchley Park (BP) are brilliantly explored. The girls take Beth – the daughter of their horrible landlady – under their wing, and despite not being traditionally academic, she’s brilliant at crosswords, and soon she’s working at BP too. Beth has lead a totally sheltered life up until that point – so it’s a real eye opener to her – but she’s a natural.

There is intrigue and mystery in both timelines – and I couldn’t put it down – I really am pleased I got to read this, even if it was for a strange reason. The main characters are all likeable in their own ways, and I was rooting for all 3 girls and lots of the supporting cast.

It twists and turns loads – and the run up to the end is brilliant – some real ‘gasp’ moments that I won’t give away, and didn’t see coming. (I hate book reviews that contain huge spoilers).

I’m now even more keen to go and see the museum at Bletchley Park – and have spent far too much time on the BP website in the last few hours trying to work out which characters in the book were real and which were fiction. And I’ll never quite look at Prince Philip in the same light again either!

A huge thank you to the author and Harper Collins for my advance review copy of this fantastic book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, my first read of anything by Kate Quinn.
The mix was just what I enjoy - strong female leads, a bit of history, some mystery, romance and tension.
I found that I was really looking forward to getting back to reading it whenever I was doing other things and I was also really interested in what was being described from a historical point of view, stopping periodically to check out images / further information online to supplement what I was reading.
Am very glad I got to read it, absolutely recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read it.

I love Kate Quinn's novels and I'm fascinated by the codebreakers at Bletchley, so this was a natural choice to snap up! It was not a disappointment. Quinn infuses her works with so much historical detail I feel like I'm breathing the same air as the characters. It was absolutely wonderful, so thank you for the ARC!

I must confess The Rose code by Kate Quinn is the first book from the author that I have read and what an outstanding book this is.
Three girls Osla, Mab and Beth come from quite different backgrounds arrive at Bletchley Park during WW2 to become code breakers. Intercepting the messages by the Germans. Doing their bit for the war effort. They soon become friends. Each girl has their own story to tell. Each of their lives are complicated not just in their personal lives but also their working one and because they are sworn to secrecy, they must keep things to themselves or they will be sentenced to treason.
The story alternatives between 1940 where they spend their time at Bletchley where they spend their time cracking codes with other academics in secret when, the rest of the world are criticizing them not helping on the war effort. Little do they know what they get up to and the good times they had in between. Then the story reverts to 1947 its 9 days before the Royal wedding. Beth has been institutionalized in an asylum for three and half years for being a traitor to her country. She claims she is innocent and wants to find out who was the real traitor. She sends encrypted messages to Osla and Mab to come and help her.
Wow this is one of the best books of this genre I have read. Kate Quinn hasn’t left anything out in this story. The team story of the codebreakers, how hardships, the casualties of war, grief, their relationships, and the good times and their mental health. I could not put this book down. The author is very clever she draws you in and you do not want to let go. I also felt emotion for these characters. Loved it 5 stars from me.

Three different girls with different backgrounds meet up and become friends at Bletchley Park working as codebreakers. An interesting and informative look at a different aspect of World War Two interlinked with the lives and loves of our three girls.

Wow this book was brilliant. I’ve read other Kate Quinn’s books about the Second World War and enjoyed them immensely. This one didn’t disappoint and I found it interesting and compelling. I loved the fact that it jumped from 1947 and the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip then back to the Second World War. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

It’s always gratifying when your first encounter with an author is engaging and absorbing, so it was with growing pleasure that I turned the pages of The Rose Code and found myself drawn into the intense atmosphere of Bletchley Park during the dark days of World War 2. My interest in the period had been piqued by reading a range of factual accounts and biographies of what was then the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. Basing a novel around such a famous and historic setting, however, does not guarantee a good read. indeed, some other novels that borrowed the Bletchley setting have not lived up to the promise of the real drama that played out there. No such criticism can be levelled at The Rose Code; it has all the elements you want from a novel that will entertain and engage the reader: well constructed characters; a plot that stands up to scrutiny and only occasionally pushes at the boundaries of plausibility; a genuinely relentless building of drama and tension as the plot develops; and a denouement that nicely resolves the different threads of the story.

Readers familiar with the Bletchley Park story will be pleased to encounter some of the well known characters whose work contributed so much to the Allied victory in 1945. In passing, it’s worth commenting on the risk that an author takes when introducing historical figures as characters in a novel; this is particularly the case when, as in The Rose Code, the events are still, at the time of writing, within living memory. Happily, Ms Quinn has steered a careful path and has, for the most part, avoided the pitfalls that this plot device brings in its train. This reviewer will be surprised if many readers fail to find themselves reading beyond the time they expected to put the book/Kindle to one side - it is that good. Highly recommended!

UNPUTDOWNABLE! The new book from Kate Quinn is another amazing novel about strong women during wartime, this time covering the Bletchley Park code breakers during World War Two.

With three central characters: Beth, Mab and Osla, the story twines with romance, royalty and intrigue, revealing secrets and lies as events unfold.

I found it utterly gripping, brilliant historical facts shedding light on parts of the war effort I wasn’t familiar with. I’m actually feeling bereft that it’s over! I would thoroughly recommend this book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

The Rose Code is a World War Two historical fiction tale based around the codebreakers of Bletchley Park.

There are two timelines: 1940 when three women from different backgrounds join the secret codebreakers, and 1947 during the preparations for Princess Elizabeth’s wedding.

The story opens in 1947 with a coded message sent to two women who were once good friends but are now estranged, their common factor being the one who sent the message; Beth discovered a spy at Bletchley but she can do nothing about it on her own.

Back in 1940, Mab, a working class girl who was top of her class at secretarial school, is on a train with Osla, a young debutante who is determined to do her bit for the war. They have both been recruited to work at Bletchley Park, but they have no idea why. The two girls are billeted with a local family and they befriend the daughter, Beth, a young women with a mind that can see patterns, but who is stifled by her overbearing mother. Osla is quick to spot Beth’s sharp brain and gets Beth enlisted to Bletchley where she soon proves how capable she is.

Back in 1947 time is running out. It is only days before the royal wedding; for all three women it means very different things and not everyone is about to celebrate the royal nuptial.

I thought that the storyline was fantastic, I lost myself for several hours reading all about life as a codebreaker; the highs and lows, the frustration and jubilation. I liked how the author portrayed the characters, showing how they were brought together from diverse lifestyles. The second timeline added lots of tension for its own reasons which I won’t spoil by explaining here.

Told from the perspectives of Osla, Mab and Beth, this tale is primarily about friendship and secrets and how these two themes were tested to the extremes. I’m a fan of historical fiction from this era and the spy theme especially worked for me. Bletchley park holds a fascination for me and I hope to visit one day. I would happily recommend this to readers who enjoy well written World War fiction.

The Rose Code follows the story of three women, Mab, Osla and Beth who are all very different but all find themselves working as codebreakers at Bletchley Park during WWII. Mab has come from a poor background in East End of London where she lives with her mother and very young sister, Lucy. Osla is at the opposite end of the class system. She’s been born into wealth and is a debutante in London where she mixes with those in high society and Royalty, including Prince Philip of Greece.. Mab and Osla get picked to go and work at the new codebreaking centre in Bletchley Park and are billeted in the Finch household. Mr and Mrs Finch have a daughter, Beth, who is downtrodden but very bright and quick to solve crosswords and puzzles. Soon all three girl are working in different huts at Bletchley Park where they have signed the Official Secrets Act so can never disclose to anyone what they are really doing.

The plot switches between wartime and events happening in 1947 in the days before the Royal Wedding of Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth. It’s a great plot full of love, friendship, grief and treachery but I found the book very long. I wasn’t keen on Prince Philip being one of the main characters as it’s seems disrespectful to be portraying a man who is very elderly and still alive in this way in the pages of fiction. There was a neat part, based on real life, in the epilogue where one of the minor character is linked to the Duchess of Cambridge.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Quinn once again enthralls with her latest piece of historical fiction, a mystery set in WW2 and the famous code breaking site of Bletchley Park, focusing on the close friendship between three extraordinary young women from hugely different backgrounds, determined to more than do their bit to fight the enemy. Wealthy heiress and debutante Osla Kendall has returned from Canada, and as a fluent German speaker translates the codes, she catches the eye of Prince Philip and falls head over heels for him. The flinty, hard as nails, impoverished East End Londoner, the tall Mab Churt, aka Queen Mab, sees to the machines that help break the codes, set on improving herself, reading the 100 top literary reads to ensnare herself a wealthy husband and provide for her younger sister, Lucy. The downtrodden, shy and timid Beth Finch has a hideous and emotionally abusive mother who has her believing she is good for nothing, but she turns out to be the star code breaker working for Dilly Knox who believes in her.

It is 1947 in London and the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip is approaching, and Tatler writer, Osla, is struggling to handle this, and for convenience sake has acquired a fiance of her own to ensure that she is not a object of pity. Out of the blue, she gets a message from Beth, incarcerated in Clockwell Sanatorium, asking for her and Mab's help and to identify a traitor from their Bletchley Park days. Is Beth crazy or could she possibly be telling the truth? The friendship between the 3 women had broken apart on D-day with betrayal and recriminations. Osla knows it is going to take a lot of persuasion to get Mab, now married with 2 young children, to join forces and meet Beth to find out if there really is a traitor at large. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we become acquainted with the spirit of adventure and excitement in the women's lives, along with the passion, joy, love, loss, terror, fear, rage, despair, tragedies, and grief in their time as codebreakers, can they come back together one last time to crack the Rose code?

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is a running motif in Quinn's novel, the time in Bletchley Park us referred to as falling down the rabbit hole, the literary club are named The Mad Hatters, and desperate Beth herself is known as Alice Liddell in Clockwell, wanting to avoid the upcoming lobotomy planned for her. From being a gifted cryptographer, she is unjustly framed and has to spend three and a half years amidst the horrors and torture of a regime that punished and drugged her, believing her to be insane. It is incredible that she managed to survive and found a way of getting in touch with her old friends, her resilience and memories of what she achieved provides her with a strength of spirit that would have defeated so many others. This is a thrilling historical read, engaging, entertaining and riveting, loaded with the class distinctions and social norms and attitudes of the time when it comes to women and race. Highly recommended. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.

The Rose Code is an enjoyable read. It interweaves two different time periods (during and post-war) and gradually the reader learns about the lives of three women of very different backgrounds, thrown together at Bletchley Park to help break codes in WW2.

The story opens with a plea for help from one of the women, and the book rushes towards to that moment from the time when the three women first meet.

The narrative is bookended, somewhat incongruously, by the love life of Prince Philip, who falls for one of the protagonists at the beginning and then is marrying QEII by the end.

A brilliant journey through the workings of Bletchley Park during the heights of it's operations during World war 2. The fact that we all know what went on there now, makes it hard to imagine how secret it's operations were, even to people living in the village, so young men are abused for not doing their bit in the war effort, when they are really saving the lives of thousands. Our three ladies are as different as you can get, Isla, who is trying to break the mould of being a socialite, whilst still having Prince Philip as her boyfriend. Mab, who is determined to marry well and won't let anyone drag her back down into her poverty driven past. And Beth, who has been told she is only good enough to look after her demanding mother, but is an actual code breaking genius. We have the wonderful story of their work and loves during the war interwoven with 1947, where they are no longer friends and Beth has been declared insane, however she has reached out to the two people she knows are enemies knowing they are the only two people that she trusts. Because there is a traitor, and they are still out there... Or is she really mad after all? Absolutely terrific read, great characters, cracking pace, and gave a real feel for what it was like working at Bletchley Park in its heyday

Very good. Full of intrigue and romance. The story focuses on the friendship between 3 women who were based at Bletchley Park during the war and how their friendship lasted after the war and how some secrets will affect this relationship.