This is the kind of book I live for. Set at Bletchley Park, it’s full of code breakers, spies, ovaltine, pencils, drafty huts, and beautiful dresses. The atmosphere simply seeped out of every page. It’s about three unlikely friends: Osla, Mab, and Beth. They meet each other after Osla and Mab were recruited to BP for top secret posts. They are billeted together at the home owned by Beth’s parents, and they quickly discover that Beth is a whiz at crossword puzzles – a sure indicator of a top notch code breaker.

Their stories are told in two parallel timelines: the early 40s, just as they begin working at Bletchley, and in the days leading up to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding. In the latter timeline, the women learn that there was a spy at Bletchley and they call in reinforcements in order to crack The Rose Code — a code that was being worked by a precious supervisor who died of cancer before the war ended – to learn the identity of the traitor.

I couldn’t decide whether to give this 4 or 5 stars. I was leaning towards 4 because there was more romance than I typically like, but I decided on 5 because: atmosphere. I’d definitely recommend this to any WWII fiction fan!