Author: K.D. Alden
Published by: Forever on Mar. 12, 2024
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 432
Format: Paperback
Source: Forever
Book Rating: 9/10
Fans of Kate Quinn and Kristina McMorris will love this gripping historical novel based on the true story of the woman who used her codebreaking skills to bring down Prohibition gangsters and WWII Nazis, and who ultimately helped found the present-day NSA.
Grace Smith has never been one to conform to society’s expectations. She flees small-town Indiana to seek adventure—and finds more than she bargained for when she’s hired by an eccentric millionaire to learn codebreaking. Soon she’s using those skills to help head the government’s fledgling cryptanalysis unit.
During Prohibition, Grace takes up the fight against rumrunners—not to mention Al Capone himself. And as the country careens from one Great War to another, it’s Grace who must crack the secrets of foreign governments, catch spies, and derail saboteurs . . . before it’s too late.
With wry wit and sheer grit, she forges her own path as a codebreaker, wife, mother. She’s spent a lifetime going up against powerful men and winning. But as war rages and the stakes grow impossibly high, Grace faces a truly impossible choice: her family or her country?
Review:
Moving, alluring, and intense!
Lady Codebreaker is a thrilling, captivating tale set from 1917 to 1958 that takes you into the life of Grace Smith, a young American girl who, after leaving her small home town in the hopes of something more, finds herself learning cryptanalysis, having a distinguished career, and marrying a loyal, successful man all during a time of chaos and upheaval and two world wars.
The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are intelligent, brave, and strong. And the plot is an insightful, compelling blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, betrayal, politics, power, friendship, and romance.
Overall, Lady Codebreaker is an intricate, passionate, fascinating tale by Alden based on real-life events that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the personalities, feelings, and lives of the characters within it that you can’t help but be fully absorbed and invested.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Forever and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.