Kate Quinn

Joining the elite Bletchley Park codebreaking team during World War II, three women from very different walks of life uncover a spy's dangerous agenda years later against the backdrop of the royal wedding of Elizabeth and Philip.

A Novel

The Rose Code

"The hidden history of Bletchley Park has been waiting for a master storyteller like Kate Quinn to bring it to life. THE ROSE CODE effortlessly evokes the frantic, nervy, exuberant world of the Enigma codebreakers through the eyes of three extraordinary women who work in tireless secrecy to defeat the Nazis. Quinn's meticulous research and impeccable characterization shine through this gripping and beautifully executed novel." Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of HER LAST FLIGHT The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over. 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything--beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses--but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park's few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. 1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter--the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger--and their true enemy--closer...

A little slow going towards the beginning but after that it got really good. This book has everything in it. And the ending was so good. The last sentence of the last chapter and epilogue was just perfect. 

Hannah Williams

Francesca Starecheski

A testament to life un-coded, whereby the purest of joy and most profound of pains cannot be read between the lines, but only in the moments inevitably by

Lisa Lindquist 

Jackie Beauregard

I just loved this book ! This is my first book that I read by Kate Quinn ! And it definitely won’t be my last ! This book was recommended by my local library! You make a request on line about what genre of book you would like to read and I wrote Second World War Female main characters . And the chose this one for me ! I loved all the 3 female characters especially Olsa! Olsa Kendal is based upon the real life Osla Benning who was a beautiful Canadian born heiress and Hut 4 translator. And really was a long term girlfriend to prince Philip during the war . But but some of the other stuff about Olsa was fictionalized . Like for example the bombing at the Cafe de Paris she was not really there . And Quinn changed her family name to Kendal because some of the Benning family still exist so she wanted to protect them . Yes I like how the novel is played out trying to make you think oh now I know who the traitor is and then they Quinn tells you who the traitor is and you say omg I didn’t think it was that person ! Plus I liked it because it also takes place during the royal wedding and I was reading it when Queen Elizabeth died ! I also enjoyed it because I learned about code breakers and now I want to watch movies and documentaries about them ! They were quite important people who had saved a lot of lives ! Thank you Kate Quinn for such a marvellous book ! I’m going to read more of her 

books she is now my favourite Author!
Opps i forgot to name the other 2 ladies in the book
That I loved Mabel
And Beth who worked with Olsa

This book has everything - romance, humor, friendship, madness, complexity, looking glass, rabbit holes, unbreakable codes and unbreakable women. I will be reading this again, and everything else by Kate Quinn. 

Kate B-L

Rachel Kanyid

Wow. This was the first WWII historical fiction that has hit me hard in the feels and kept me 100% engaged enough to finish in 1 day in ages. Beautiful!

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Three former friends from different walks of life, with different skills, brought together by a war. Can they prove who a traitor is in a time when women weren’t listened to?

I loved the female relationships and the story. It was a bit long and bogged down in the middle, but that’s my only quibble.

Livia

4.5/5

Every time I read a Kate Quinn novel, I get pulled even deeper into the realm of Historical Fiction. Aside from Kristin Hannah, she is my favorite historical fiction author and I would read everything she writes from this point forward. Although I must admit that The Huntress was still my favorite out of her works, this one is amazing.

This story follows three girls. Prim, wealthy Osla, stern Mab, and soft-spoken, intelligent Beth. All three of them came from different backgrounds, coming together to work at Bletchley Park to decode secret German codes throughout WWII. We jumped between the war and 1947, as Beth was revealed to be in an asylum and asking for help from Osla and Mab, who parted painfully. She was telling them that there was a traitor in Bletchley Park, and they are still on the loose while Beth is rotting. Osla and Mab had to look over their past hurt and hostility towards each other and towards Beth, deciding to help her to catch the traitor that passes information to Britain’s ally. 

I wouldn’t say I love every character, but I find them all interesting in their way and I have mixed feelings for them. My favorite is Osla Kendall, a prim, gorgeous debutante who has the ambition to be more than just a society girl who gossips around and uses her ability to speak multiple languages to translate German messages. She is relentless and fierce, believing in herself when others don't. Mab was much more rough and frank, but she only ever wanted to be married to a nice gentleman who will treat her right, ever since her incident of being raped by a man when she was just a teenager. She went through so many heartbreaks that she sometimes shattered and broke, but in the end, she always picks up her pieces and stands up straight again. Beth was an interesting character. She was very work-oriented, and to her, everything is always black and white, which didn’t bode well with her co-workers. However, she is one of the best decoders Bletchley Park has, and she loved doing it more than anything else in the world. Because of this, she didn’t want commitment and she barely paid attention to the people around her, which makes her come off as uncaring, which is true.

No matter how much I love this book and the decoding terms and how it works, the beginning nearing the middle part of the book dragged slightly, and it could’ve been done with fewer words and fewer pages to tell the full story, but it was still very much enjoyable and it builds up the characters so well that I can’t help but feel more towards them. And I can sort of guess who was the traitor at the end, which isn’t a surprise since somehow I always manage to look through plot twists, but not in a bad way.

Anna Campbell

** spoiler alert **
           I couldn’t put this book down! Fresh off of finishing The Alice Network, I couldn’t wait to read another Kate Quinn, and I was not disappointed. 
I loved Osla, Mab and Beth, and was delighted to see each of them grow and change, make mistakes and do things they regret, and then have a chance to work together again, and to finally forgive. 
I distrusted Giles from the first mention, when we walked out of the lake with a teacup. That’s the only criticism I have — I feel like he was the obvious bad seed! But so satisfying to get the twist of him being Osla’s horrible fiancé. 
I was surprised how much I liked Francis, and knew immediately he was going to be killed. But to give us such happy moments of Francis and Lucy, and then to take them both so quickly — it was heartbreaking in perfect Kate Quinn fashion. 
I KNEW that JPEC Cornwall was going to be the man for Osla, and I was so glad to see them get together at the end! But that Osla also reached her career goals independently, which was important to her. 
Beth’s character development was the best. Watching her stand up to her mother, steadfast for the rest of the book, and when her father eventually left too, was so great. I really like Harry and her relationship with him — it may be unconventional, but it’s real and good and honest, because Sheila was a supporter from the very beginning. 
And I was so surprised that Mab’s husband Mike ended up being a bombe engineer, and they finally found a link and a way back to each other. I really didn’t know what Mab’s ending was going to be, but I have hope for them. 
What a lovely book, I sped through it!

Jayla Yez

What a fantastic audio book! I was so invested in everything that happened. The ending was so intense and I loved every second of it. It was great to learn a little bit more about WWII as well.

Katherine

My favorite type of historical fiction! Fast paced and interesting characters plus unique history stories that I never would have known about. Loved everything about the codes and how it all comes together in the end.

The brand-new historical novel from the bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Huntress – available to pre-order now ‘A terrific book bursting with vivid atmosphere’ Dinah Jefferies, #1 bestselling author of The Tea-Planter’s Wife

Karen Shimek

Rina

A good blend of fiction and reality. I would love to read and know more of these hidden histories and women codebreakers, most of all. Like Kate Quinn’s other books, this book has a trio (all women this time) and two timelines (1940 and 1947). Contrary to her other books, I didn’t feel like rushing through a timeline because it wasn’t interesting me, but there were chapters and povs I felt like skimming. Also, I have been able to guess a couple of things on the second half of the book.

I think this book is both character and plot driven, really slow but worth it. The pov characters all had distinct personalities, and jobs. However, there was a point wherein I didn’t like the line of thinking of one character and the arguments she was giving...but she had the most apparent character development; each character just stood for what they thought was right. 

Overall, this was quite fun to read. I was always asking how and why, and the occasional internal “oh no.”

Anna Wilson

In this book, we follow 3 different girls transform into code breakers in 1940. They are instrumental in the fight against the Nazis but are sworn to secrecy. This of course puts strains on relationships they have with family members and the men they met along the way. Then in 1947, one of the women has ended up in an institution asking the other 2 to help her get of out of there! 

Let me tell you I was invested in the 3 women’s lives. I audibly gasped multiple times and felt the heartbreak they experienced. I also enjoyed the jumping back and forth in time. I listened to the audiobook, which was fantastic, but I wish they had different narrators for each girl bc at the beginning I kept getting Osla and Mab confused 🙈 the ending of the book is probably one of my favorite endings! 


https://www.instagram.com/p/CR7BKeyLQ...

Isabelle Dion

Wow... I hadn't read historical fiction in a while, and I am thoroughly regretting it. The Rose Code was SO good, I couldn't put it down. The amount of research I imagine was done to bring this book to life is what allows you to fully immerse yourself in these incredible female characters, the story of Bletchley Park (the top-secret home of the World War Two Codebreakers) and the oh-so interesting (and important) part these women silently played in the history of WW2. I currently have The Alice Network sitting on my bookshelf, and I can't wait to dig into that one as well.

erin s

Everyone who knows me knows I usually avoid historical fiction set around WWII, but ever since reading Kate Quinn's fantastic Mistress of Rome, I find myself seeking out every new novel of hers, even the WWII ones. The Rose Code is one of her strongest stories, filled with real history and vivid characters. Quinn focuses on three women workers at Bletchley Park, bringing the park and the incredible machinery & decoding work to life in great detail. The cast of supporting characters is as compelling as the main trio, particularly the other Bletchley-ites. 

5/5: A wonderful novel about the ordinary people who played a pivotal role in Allied warfare. Sure to be a hit with book clubs (and for good reason), The Rose Code presents a sweeping story about passion, loss, friendship, logic, and community.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Wise

I was hooked by this book and I absolutely loved it. The characters were believable and I could not put this book down. The story hops back and forth between WWII when the 3 main characters work at Bletchley Park and several years later. The mystery is intriguing and the story is suspenseful.  The only part of the book I groaned and rolled my eyes about was the epilogue. 

Lovisa

Bästa boken jag läst i år. Vilka hjältar, vilka människor. Sinnes!

Heather Ellis

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Canada for giving me an e-copy of this book for review.

Like many others I have been WAITING for Kate Quinn to release a new book after her stellar novel The Huntress, AND WE FINALLY HAVE IT!!!

I liked how this book shifted away from the themes that were explored in Quinn's previous books. Instead of spies and shifting geographical areas we are confined to the beautiful grounds of Bletchley Park for most of the novel. Osla, Mab, and Beth all work in different areas of Bletchley Park, which I thought was a really smart choice on Quinn's part.

I have taken courses on intelligence during the Second World War and my grandfather was involved in Naval Intelligence in the African/Middle Eastern theatre of the war. I've grown up studying and hearing stories about the choices signals intelligence operatives had to make during the war to keep their code breaking safe. Quinn's book highlights the emotional toll this has on an individual and relationships through the three women.

Part of me wanted more explanation of their post-war lives. While the back story is really important to the action in 1947, the connection was a bit frayed for me. Still, I love a trio of women against the world set to crack one more code together.

Emily Christensen

3.5 Stars! 

Based on/inspired by the true story of code breaking women at Bletchley Park during WWII, Kate Quinn’s latest novel, The Rose Code, follows three unlikely (fictional) friends tied together through Bletchley Park and a secret mission. 

Quick synopsis: Alternating between two different time periods (during WWII and several years later), The Rose Code tells the story of Osla (Canadian debutant), Mab (smart secretary from a less affluent family), and Beth (incredibly intelligent and incredibly sheltered) as they work together to fight the Axis, fall in love, develop and lose their strong friendship, and later discover there was a traitor in their midst. 

With hints at real life characters (ahem, Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth), this story was one I did know know much about but thoroughly enjoyed learning about! 

While I did enjoy the story, I would say that it didn’t have as much emotional sway as similar WWII books that I’ve read (All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale) - aka during periods of tragedy it didn’t make me cry (which, if you know me you know I’m a crybaby). It was also a bit long and could have been pared down a little more while still keeping the meat of the story. 

Overall the story is definitely worth reading and one I very much enjoyed!!

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for the #gifted copy of The Rose Code. Be sure to pick up your copy today!

The Rose Code A Novel

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