A truly fascinating story.

People from all different backgrounds are brought together to Bletchley Park to help with the war effort. This book concentrates on three women who soon become great friends.

Man, Olsa and Beth. All very different but highly intelligent and so loyal to each other until something unforgivable happens and they go their separate ways.

Years later, two of the women receive a letter which means that they need to put their differences aside and come together once again to discover who, from Bletchley Park was a traitor.

What a fantastic novel set in 1940s to 1947 with the eve of the Royal Wedding, this authors beautifully researched story tells about the heoroic teams who worked at Bletchley Park , the legendary code breakers of the enigma and other codes which gave the Allies access to secrets that in turn changed the course of the War and eventually ended it. Three girls who are as far apart in society as one could ever imagine - from Osla the vivacious debutante and god child of lord mountbatton to Mab from the East End who has fought her way up in the world to Beth the awkward local girl that the first two meet when they are boarded in her home. In to this secret world where girl is invited to work they meet the motley and excentric crew formed of professors, service men and brains who form the different huts and work all hours in the unravelling of secret codes. As the girls work they all meet up with men who will influence their lives in the future, especially a certain Greek Prince who falls for Osla. But their friendships fracture due to errors in judgement and a tradegy that makes them part ways. The war time life is wonderfully betrayed with the young grasping pleasure before another event takes things away - even the famous Cafe de Paris comes to life in the pages. Finally these women must race against time and reunite to solve a mysterious encrypted letter as Princess Elizabeth is about to mary her dashing Prince Philip.
An engaging and fascinating read that also brings alive the shadowy agencies that could banish someone to a mental home and in that it protrays the inhumane cruelty dished out to imates in that time. The reader will certainly be carried along with the fast pace of this novel and its interesting ending.

This begins by flitting between the build up to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip's wedding combined with the enigma code breaking at Bletchley Park. Three women lead us through both timelines - Osla who is very much the "silly debutante" with the connections and the class, Mab is the formidable East End girl and Beth is the downtrodden almost silent wallflower. However none of them are entirely what you expect and they become firm friends while working in different sections at Bletchley. Their friendship and their code breaking both get fractured as errors of judgement and tragedy occur. Leading to the story set three years later coinciding with the royal wedding - can the three friends put aside their differences and break codes again to discover who is the traitor who affected all of their lives?

At the beginning I wasn't sure about this as all the ww2 clichés seemed to be here - I swear I haven't read any fiction that if it mentions the Cafe de Paris you know a character will be there when it was bombed. Also the future prince Philip in fiction is a bit disconcerting. However once I got past all that it quickly got brilliant

I really liked this book. The three main female characters were interesting and different, each with difficulties in their past and present life. All three, I think, are interesting enough to hold the story alone, but I liked the way they were threaded together.
I think this the first story set at Bletchley Park I’ve read since Enigma and it stands up really well in such esteemed company (I’m a Robert Harris fan). While it has similarities to that, going into some detail of cryptanalysis, it also shows the variety of the work done there, much of it by women. It really got across to me just how many people worked at Bletchley during the war and what secrets many kept for so long.
Osla, so often dismissed as a ‘silly deb’, is intelligent and kind. Although she has had a privileged upbringing, she craves the permanence of a proper home. Mab is on a mission of self-improvement, determined not to lead a life like her mother’s. And Beth has the Bible-wielding disciplinarian mother from hell, cut from the same stiff cloth as the mother in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Last daughter left at home, she has slim chance of leaving it behind.
The Rose Code contains so much – three stories of young women finding their way in the world, the tense backdrop of wartime signals intelligence, and a race against time. I’ll definitely seek out Kate Quinn’s other books, not least because in her Goodreads profile she has put into words exactly how I rate books!

I feel that this story is far too long. The part of the story about Prince Philip felt like the author was trying too hard to get people to read her book. Sorry but I normally really like historical fiction but despite trying hard I couldn’t like this particular book.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

This is a remarkable book, I found it to be totally immersive. The intertwining life stories of the three young women who become part of the organisation that was the Bletchley Park code breaking operation during WW2 are riveting, describing in detail their very different back stories and how they come to be such firm friends.
The characterisation of Osla, ,Mab and Beth is exceptional, painting an indelible picture of the three central protagonists and all the other supporting characters, to bring them fully formed to the story.
The plotting is excellent, the pace is maintained throughout, even though it covers dual timelines, from early 1940s during the war years, and from 1947, when the war has ended.
The realisation of the hugeness of the scale of Bletchley Park, known as BP, and the hundreds of people who were co opted to work there, was a big surprise, as was the high level of total secrecy that all the workers had to maintain, even from each other.
The research that the author must have carried out to be able to describe in such detail the physical operational processes of the code-breaking machinery used, is impressive.
The utter ruthlessness of government agencies of the time, in consigning to a mental asylum a person who might pose a security risk, was utterly chilling.
The inhumanity of the treatment meted out to inpatients in mental institutions was horrifying, whether or not they were actually mentally ill. How far society has travelled from such terrible times.
The concluding chapters of the book, in 1947 when the race is on to uncover the truth about a traitor at BP, had me holding my breath as I raced through the script.
The themes of unlikely friendships, love, romance, tragedy, suspicion, mistrust, betrayal, and ultimately the strong sense of righting a wrong, are woven skilfully throughout this wonderful story. It is unlike any WW2 story I have read, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
My thanks to the author, publisher and to Netgalley for my advance copy of this title, I have so enjoyed reading it.

Although this was not my usual read, I really enjoyed this book. At 600 pages long, I thought it was going to be a bit of a slog but I was pleasantly surprised. A fast paced story that starts in WW2 and tells the story of three girls at Bletchley Park. The story moves forward to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. Well worth reading

QUINNtissentially the best historical fiction I have read in a while.
Brilliant, inspirational, real people mixed with fictional ones.
Immersive writing
One of the most fascinating settings and places to find yourself in a novel.
5 stars!

I saw this advertised on Netgalley as a review the copy - I have had The Alice Network on my to read list for a long time, but never got around to it so I thought I would give this a try.

The novel follows the experiences of three girls, Osla, Mab and Beth, as they work towards the war effort in their own special way. Finding their places at the highly secretive Bletchley Park, Mab and Osla are billeted at Beth’s home. It’s not long before Beth’s mastery of crosswords marks her out as having great potential as a cryptanalyst.

The novel follows all the twists and turns of the young women’s lives until tragedy tears them apart. Unable to talk about their experiences with anyone outside ‘BP’, the novel gives an insight into just how isolating this must have been. It also shows the weight of responsibility the workers felt. For young women who had never before been trusted with much more than housework, shopping and parties, this responsibility is testing and tough - but ultimately shows that they are equal to the task.

I really enjoyed the novel - anyone who likes a novel that follows the lives of realistic characters in difficult circumstances or anyone who is interested in this period of history will also enjoy it.

At times it did feel a little weighty and long. Due to this being a digital copy, I had not fully appreciated its epic nature - over 600 pages, so quite a commitment. However I would still recommend it - I would have enjoyed it even more had I not felt the need to rush due to a big ‘to read’ pile of books stacked by my bed!

Bletchley Park, spiffing girls, cracking codes and a hint of treachery. A topping tale set in two timelines- Bletchley Park during the War and the other in the week leading up to the Queen's wedding. To explain why the time split would spoil a very well written story which had me glued to the page.

I had worried that my ability to read 'longer' books had suffered due to a shortened attention span - age? social media? pandemic? but this book proves that a great plot engaging characters and lashings of peril can get my nose stuck to the page once again.

Many thanks to Kate Quinn for a thoroughly enjoyable interlude, I will be seeking out her other books.

What a spellbinding book. The story of Bletchley Park and the amazing work which went on there is awe inspiring. This story just swept me away until I felt as if I were there and a part of it all. You are lead into the lives of the Code Breakers. Some of them complicated and almost heartbreaking.
The whole pace of the book bounds along and I felt as if there was so much to do and so little time. How keen their brains must have been to do this work day after day.
Beth, the loneliest seeming character of the story has a massive part to play and whilst, at one point in her life, everything is turned upside down - she may well become the hero of the hour. There are characters in this book that we all know and this helped to make the book so real and lifelike.
I loved it. It’s a real page turner. It seemed so down to Earth and yet amazingly powerful at the same time.

Return to Bletchley Park

Early in WW2, three young women are recruited to the code breaking ranks of Bletchley Park, working class Mab, posh Osla and repressed Beth. The three become friends, liberated by their important work in the war effort, but later separate, betray each other, one incarcerated in a mental asylum, unable to contact the outside world.

I guess I might not have read this novel, except I was asked to read a review copy, but I would have missed an interesting, fascinating and at times exciting tale which unwinds in detail over more than 600 pages. I enjoyed following the changes in the lives of the three young woman, the joys and grief they experience, as well as the twists and turns of the code breaking efforts for those in Bletchley Park. There are a number of very real dramas going on here and the author is not afraid to bring real sorrow to her heroines and to the reader by association. I did feel the final drama involving the resolution of mutual betrayal was all a bit too pat and it was not very difficult to work out just who was the guilty traitor, but I did find the novel a very worthwhile read.

Entertaining , and well researched. I thoroughly enjoyed this, a real page turner.. . Not too slushy romance wise and has a good pacy ending. Gives a really good insight into the world of Enigma code breaking and set against the background of the Royal

I loved this book. Bound to be one of the best reads of 2021. I couldn’t put it down despite the length (600pages) that just fly by.
Twists and turns and brings new light to a well known historical period.

This story moves between the events at Bletchley House during WWII and the characters’ ‘present day’ which is just before the wedding of Prince Phillip. There are three main characters who are all women and a raise to discover a buried truth, I didn’t enjoy this as much as some of the reviewers I’ve seen but I think it wasn’t really my sort of book. It’s a book that races through and is full of plucky people.

This is a brilliant book, I read it in the week when John LeCarre died and had to think that this is a worthy successor. Its a fast moving story of friends working at Bletchely Park during the War, patched across to 1947 when they meet again to find the spy who got one of them locked up in a secure mental hospital because she was getting too close to finding out who it was. Its beautifully written and evokes the thrill of war work, the urgency off war-time relationships and the terrible speed with which they can fall apart. Read it!

Such a great read this tells the story of three very different women brought together at Bletchley Park the top secret codebreaking site during the Second World War.Osla a Mayfare Deb.,Mab an Eastender on the lookout for a husband and Beth so retiring her vile and cruel mother, has always told is useless and odd but who becomes one of the top codebreakers at Bletchley.The tale follows their triumphs and tragedies personal and professional against a background of the utmost secrecy which although it was strictly adhered to caused many problems for those who worked there. Like Harry Zarb whose young son was beaten and bullied because his father wasn't in uniform ..The attitude of the men from the security services who brushed women off as 'silly debs' but couldn't have begun to understand the intelligence of the women credited with being instrumental to winning the war and who were reckoned to have shortened it by at least two years .It was believed that women couldn't do intelligence work because they couldn't keep a secret! ( The three fastest forms of communication Telegram Telephone and Tell a woman) despite ample evidence to the contrary.
When Beth cracks a code pointing to the existence of a traitor she finds herself accused of being hysterical and having a breakdown and ends up in an asylum courtesy of MI5 and facing a lobotomy. Its not until after the war that her two erstwhile friends answer a plea for help in an exciting finale
At times I felt ashamed to be a man and looking at my daughters felt thankful that attitudes have moved on even if there is still some way to go.
There are a number of real life characters caught up in the story most notably Prince Phillip as a young serving naval lieutenant and the part of the book after the war is set against the timetable of his marriage to the future queen. Kate Middletons' Grandmother and great aunt are also in there as they also worked at Bletchley Park.
As a piece of Historical fiction I thought this was top notch and conveys the attitudes and feelings in wartime Britain superbly.The fear of invasion the tension of the codebreakers desperately seek to find the key to the u-boat code as hundreds of lives are lost in the Atlantic and the triumph of uncovering the Italian navies entire battleplan for an attack in the med.
And on top of that a cast of well rounded characters with all their faults. and a great story about a group of people whose contribution was kept secret until just a few years ago and who sadly never got the recognition they deserved many having passed away before the information was released.
Really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it .

The Rose Code is a fabulous story. Osla, Mab and Beth become friends while working at Bletchley Park during the war. After the war Beth is confined to an asylum and sends a (coded!) message to Osla and Mab asking for help. The story moves back and forth along these timelines. We get an amazing picture of their lives - the hard work, the pressure to succeed, the tragedy that war brings. I loved this book and raced through it but then was sad I'd finished it! I think I will be reading more of this author.

Thanks to this book, I am suffering from lack of sleep. Seriously, I tried to put it down and go to sleep but had to go back to reading and finishing this book, meaning a past 3 am bedtime for me.
The Rose Code is a story set in 1947, just before the Royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Phillip, and jumps back to 1940, where the story starts.
Three women, tied together by a huge wartime secret, are brought back together to solve a huge mystery.
Osla, Mabs and Beth couldn't; be from more different backgrounds.
Osla is one of those 'scatty debs' who people just assume has no brains.
Mabs has pulled herself up from a tough life, and is in search of a life that she feels she deserves,
Beth is a timid, mousy girl, who is in fear of her overbearing mother.
The summons to work at Bletchley Park as a part of the WW2 codebreakers brings much-needed purpose into their lives until things start to happen...
I love books with a hint of truth in them, and ones that take history, and twist it slightly (artistic license) to add flavour to the plot, and this was perfectly done in The Rose Code.
I don't want to give the story away, but if you like a bit of wartime in your books, spiced up with twists, this is definitely for you!
Codebreaking excitement throughout the whole book!
There is suspense, romance, history, and a gripping plot that keeps you reading until the very end!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I am sorry to say i found this book hard to get into for me it was very slow and too long.It may just be me but good luck to the author.