Charity’s Code: Book review

Charity’s Code: #3 in the virtues and valor series

By Hallee Bridgeman

Historical fiction, inspirational fiction

Synopsis:

DORTHY EWING never met a crossword puzzle that she couldn’t solve with shocking speed. As a loving wife and mother of three children, she had an idyllic life with her home and her puzzles – until she had to see her husband off to war. Then the bombing of the Blitz began.

Now her husband Tom is a POW in Occupied France, her children have been sent to the hopeful safety of her parents’ home in York, and she is working at Bletchley Park as an assistant to cryptanalysts. After cracking the code on an encrypted letter from her husband, she is recruited into a special team called The Virtues.

She works on the home-front, receiving and sending messages to her team in France and coordinating a secret mission with her husband via coded letters. She intercepts the transmission from TEMPERANCE alerting to her blown cover. The clock is ticking in a race to save Temperance’s life. Information has to be sent to and received from the team on the ground. Can Charity help save her, or will the constraints of time and the efficiency of the Third Reich work against them?

My thoughts

This is the third installment in the Virtues and Valor series. I enjoyed Charity’s character. She’s very intriguing in that she’s so ordinary, yet extraordinary at the same time. She’s an extremely intelligent woman, who attended university to obtain a degree in engineering, only to discover that it was too easy for her. Now a mother, with her husband off to war, because of her unique intelligence, she is recruited to join the Virtues.

I love the fact that Bridgeman has given us three extremely different characters so far. It makes for a unique story line that weaves in a variety of flavors. Different characters from all different backgrounds join together to fight against one single cause. I love it. I also love that these fictional characters are based off of real women.

This story actually backtracks and takes place before Temperance’s story, but then jumps ahead, overlapping. It’s fascinating. I’m curious as to how she chose the order of these installments. I also enjoyed Charity’s interactions with, and her insights into the other Virtues. More than in the first two books, we are able to pick out more details into the lives and the personalities of the other women who make up the team of Virtues.

Again, I feel that the writing overall has improved from book 1 as well. I look forward to reading more!