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Book Review of The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies

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The two people who finished this book for book group truly enjoyed it. One is a computer coder and the other works in a library. The rest of the group gave up about a third of the way through, finding it too dry. I found it fascinating in terms of world history I did not know (the connection between the Nazi Party and South America) and the incredible impact Elizebeth's code breaking had on world events. I wished there had been a bit more about the personal side of her life. We know that neither her parents nor her husband's parents were happy about their marriage across religious lines. What happened over the long term in relation to that? Did the grandkids bring them together? That said, there was an impressive amount of detail about her work and I'm really glad to have learned about this unheard of woman from history. If you are in the Chicago area, the Fabyan Forest Preserve is free and open to the public and you can see the windmill and other places mentioned early in the book.