Thank you Margo for having us out on your gorgeous screen porch, what a treat to be there to discuss The Code Girls by Liza Mundy. There seems no end of the contribution that women made to the massive effort of World War II and other major American milestone projects like going to the moon.
Of course, none of these women got any credit at the time, no matter their area, and it was no different for the Code Girls, called such because their role was to crack the encryptions of enemy communications and in some cases, ensure those decoded messages found the right part of the government or armed forces to make it effective.
These girls were recruited from around the country, including some of our group's relatives, because of their intelligence and character and of course in some cases, their looks. Mysterious letters arrived inviting the candidates to Washington DC for vague interviews and remarkably, they went.
Decades later, these valiant women still keep the secrets of their work, not even telling their families what they did and how they did it. The author did a remarkable job sussing out the many personal stories and even more difficult, their accomplishments and pulling them together into a book that tells their story.
There wasn't all that much plot despite these moving individual tales, which made it a bit difficult to invest for all 448 pages. Still, it is another great story to tell of the patriotism, talent and accomplishment of American women.
And so on we go to our next book, the most recent by Frances Mayes, called Women in Sunlight. Sally has offered to host in her beautiful house in Sabot Hill on Sept. 20 at 6:30. I will be out of town that night, would anyone volunteer to coordinate and write the blog?
See you all in October!
