K.D. Alden

Lady Codebreaker, a fictional historical story based on the life of true heroine Elizebeth Smith Friedman, by K.D. Alden, is in a class by itself.

Spanning four decades (1917 - 1958), this is a story of WWI, WWII, prohibition, mental health, and the struggles of women. This is also an emotional love story told in such a way by Alden that one feels like they are right there with Grace and Robert throughout all their ups and downs.

Alden did a superb job seamlessly blending fact and fiction based upon America's first female cryptanalyst making this a very enjoyable read. Alden had this reader enthralled from beginning to end as I rode an emotional roller coaster throughout reading this gripping story. Thank you K.D. Alden for writing a book about this amazing woman, one of many women whose stories are all but lost to our history.

I received a complimentary copy of this awesome book, Lady Codebreaker, from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review, and all opinions are my own.… (meer)

Lady Codebreaker by K.D. Alden
Historical fiction. Stem. dual timeline .
Grace Smith doesn’t want the expected husband, children and dreary housewife role. She knows she has no way to escape that life so flees Indiana, tries job hunting in Chicago and ends up hired to find codes written in Shakespeare’s works. That soon leads to her learning cryptanalysis with coworker Robert. Soon the two are helping the government decode notes and coded letters during prohibition, and through the war. High stress and long hours of deep concentration.
Grace is on a path of expertise against foreign governments while juggling family responsibilities. It’s a unique position of importance reporting all the way up to the white house and war rooms.

Grace is determined and smart. She spends her whole life fighting against men trying to put her into a lessor position. She’s not one to just smile and demure. I admired her fortitude and her dedication to the cause and often felt grateful to live in more equitable times. She breaks code after code, she teaches others how to learn the process while conforming to dress and social codes.
I’ve read a few books recently about amazing women whose stories are all but lost to history and I’m just in awe of them as I live an easy life. This book is a wonderful addition to the genre of historical female heroes.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. I’ve also purchased a copy to donate to my local library.… (meer)

Ruth Ann is living at The Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded in Virginia as the novel opens. She is treated as if she was feeble minded but the main reason she was there was because she was seen as an impure woman. She had been raped and was sent to the home when she got pregnant. Her mother is also a patient there. The women are treated terribly - they are forced to work all day and frequently beaten by the woman in charge. Ruth Ann's main goal is to find her baby that was taken away from her at birth and given to a couple. She plans an escape with the help of Clarence who is also at the home due to the fact that he was born with only one hand. She ends up back at the home after her failed escape and finds out that the doctor plans to sterilize her so that she can't have more children. The scientific belief at the time was eugenics. Many doctors believed that if the feeble minded and less desirable people were sterilized, that would limit the feeble minded in the next generation because of the belief that people who were not bright, would have children with the same problem. Dr. Price is performing this operation on many of the young girls at the home and Ruth Ann is the first one to really fight him on the issue. He hires a friend who is a lawyer to defend Ruth Ann so that he can get more publicity and agreement from the state that eugenics is the proper treatment for undesirable people. Ruth Ann is a fighter and much more intelligent that she is given credit for. Her goal in life is to live in the outside world and raise her baby. Will this case going to trial help her or will it uphold the practices of Dr. Price?

Ruth Ann is a well written and very likable character. Even though she is labeled as feeble minded, she is much more intelligent than many of the people around her. Her fight to stop her sterilization had me rooting for her all the way to the Supreme Court. This fantastic book was based on a true story about the legality of forced sterilization on people who were believed to be undesirable.… (meer)

I really enjoyed this powerful story. I enjoy historical fiction from time to time and was intrigued by the fact that this story was based on a true story. The fact that these events occurred less than one hundred years ago is almost shocking because everything about this story seems unreasonable and unfair. My heart ached for the things that Ruth Ann and the rest of the characters went through over the course of this story. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

This book tells Ruth Ann's story, along with the other residents of the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. Ruth Ann was set to the institution after becoming pregnant as an unwed teen. Her mother is also at the institution but in a more secured area. Ruth Ann's baby, Annabel, was taken from her at birth and given to someone else to raise. Ruth Ann spends her days doing hard labor, often laundry, with some of the other residents and is punished quite severely if things go wrong. Ruth Ann wants nothing more than to raise her baby but nobody seems to want to see that happen. Instead, Ruth Ann is informed that she needs to have an operation that will make it so that she will never be able to have more children.

So many things made me angry about the things that happened to Ruth Ann. She is quite intelligent but is constantly told that she is feebleminded. Her real crime is that she was born poor and had to leave school after sixth grade to work. I hated the fact that the few men in power were making decisions about who was worthy of having children and often didn't even tell the patient the real reason for the surgery that they were having. Even the court cases seemed less about standing up for the individual's rights and giving Ruth Ann a voice than I had hoped to see.

Ruth Ann was a fantastic character. She was smart and resilient. She has been through a lot in her life but doesn't stop trying to do the best she can given her circumstances. She looks out for the younger girls and doesn't rock the boat all too often. There were a lot of great characters at the institution. Clarence was wonderful from the start and I liked him more and more as the book progressed. There were several other girls that were close to Ruth Ann and I thought that their stories added a lot to the book.

I believe that this is the first time that I have listened to Bethany Anne Lind's narration and I thought that she did a fantastic job with this book. I thought that her voice was perfect for Ruth Ann and she really brought her character to life. The other voices that she used were equally well done. I thought that she added a lot of emotion to the story which added to my overall enjoyment of the book.

I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction. This was a very powerful story and I really appreciated the fact that she included some information about the actual case this book was based on at the end of the book. The book was based on the case Buck vs. Bell which was decided in 1927. Carrie Buck somehow became the person behind the case that has allowed countless forced sterilizations in the years since her case. In my opinion, what was done to Carrie was wrong as is every other instance of forced sterilization. It is hard to believe that to this date this case has yet to be overturned. K.D. Alden did a fabulous job with this book and I hope to read more of her work in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and purchased a copy of the audiobook.… (meer)