The Rose Code

In 1940, three women arrive at Bletchley Park, the country estate where Britain trains its best minds to break German military codes. Osla is a wealthy debutante with fluent German and a prince sending her roses, and she wants to be taken seriously.

Mab grew up in poverty in London's East End, runs the codebreaking machines, hides old wounds and hopes to marry well. Beth is a shy spinster from the local village with a gift for puzzles, and she becomes one of the few female cryptanalysts at the Park.

The war, its losses and the strain of keeping secrets drive the three apart. The story then jumps to 1947, as the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip sweeps post-war Britain. An encrypted letter reaches the former friends, now enemies.

Its key lies in a betrayal that ended their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. The book is a historical spy novel told in two timelines, with the three women as the viewpoint characters.

A traitor from the Bletchley years has resurfaced. Osla, Mab and Beth must rebuild their old alliance and crack one last code together, and every layer they peel back brings the danger, and the real enemy, closer.