(Book for review courtesy of NetGalley)
Grand Central Publishing
Although the names have been changed, K. D. Alden's Lady Codebreaker chronicles the life of Elizebeth Friedman. The book begins with "Grace Smith" being hired at a sort of commune/think tank - an estate with a mansion, windmills to generate power, gardens to grow food, a menagerie of animals, and a cadre of intelligent people working on anything from genetics to "decoding" Shakespeare (Grace/Elizebeth's job.) When Grace challenges the notion that Francis Bacon actually authored Shakespeare's plays, she is reassigned to break code for the government. Thus begins her career as crypto-analyst. The book follows Grace's story has she marries fellow crypto-analyst "Robert Feldman" and they continue to work for the government during World War I, Prohibition, and World War II. The couple balances life, marriage, and children with important intellectual government work, remaining to devoted to each other, even through Robert's mental breakdown. The novel covers the facts of the real Friedmen's life thoroughly and sheds light on a remarkable, largely unknown woman.
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