Setting
London in 1940 was the time when Winston Churchill was at the helm of Great Britain as the prime minister, taking over from Chamberlain. With the threat of war with Germany looming, there was an added threat from IRA. Irish Republican Army(IRA) was the revolutionary Irish seeking to unify Ireland and free Northern Ireland from British rule. IRA was responsible for a series of attacks in Britain and rumoured to have joined hands with Nazis to defeat Britain.
Storyline
Maggie Hope, a British-American came back to Britain to sell her late grandmother's Victorian house she had recently inherited. She ends up living in the house with few other girls as housemates. David Greene, private secretary to Winston Churchill and Maggie’s good friend asks her to work as a typist for Churchill. Despite being overqualified, she accepts the offer to do her bit in wartime efforts. Maggie-a brilliant mathematician yearns to solve codes but it was a time when men were preferred over women in every sphere. Women's role was constrained to taking care of children and minding their households. So she ends up taking dictations and typing letters and speeches for Churchill. When she does some digging into her past she comes across a shocking and unexpected truth. Owing to her astuteness and sharp wits, she soon uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate Churchill.
My Thoughts
Though the story is based during the second world war, the role of the IRA is more highlighted. It is a very straightforward story with hardly any curveball thrown. The author takes her time to develop the characters and the story is slow-moving till the halfway mark. For me, the book should have been over by 80-85%, the rest did nothing to advance the narrative. Since this is the first book in the Maggie Hope series, I think the author took the time to set the premise and tone for the rest of the series to follow. The main protagonist being a mathematician with a penchant for codebreaking, I expected better utilisation of her skill. I might give the second book in the series a try but may not go for the entire series.
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