About the Book
-
Author:
- Monica Hesse
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Sure
BFF Charm: Let Me Love You
Talky Talk: Straight Up 1918
Bonus Factor: Hello Girls
Factor: Calling Your Shot
Relationship Status: Study Buddies
Content Warning (click to reveal)
From the book itself: “The Brightwood Code is a work of historical fiction, and touches on many issues that remain all too prevalent today, including misogyny, grief, PTSD, bullying, and sexual assault.”
Cover Story: Sure
It’s a bit on the nose — a girl literally running from the past — but there’s no doubt that this is a war book. Obvs a somber subject matter does require gravitas, but do historical covers always have to be so SERIOUS and BORING?!? I know we judge books by their covers to be cheeky, but publishers are not giving historical fiction the best chance possible to broaden their audience when the first impression is a snoozy cover.
If I made the rules — and for the purposes of this review, I do — the cover would be in the style of an era-appropriate wartime poster featuring the Hello Girls switchboard operators, maybe tattered to signify distress and something is afoot.
The Deal
In the final days of the Great War, Edda St. James is working as a telephone operator in Washington, DC — when she receives an unnerving call that pulls her back to her time as a switchboard operator for the US Army. As a Hello Girl, Edda deciphered connection codes and relayed top-secret, time-sensitive information. And now one of those codes — “Brightwood” — has followed her home from France. But what does the caller want? What does the caller know? And, more importantly, is Edda ready to revisit the painful memories that she left behind?
BFF Charm: Let Me Love You
Even though the reader doesn’t spend much time with Edda before she becomes a Hello Girl, the act of becoming one was already selfless and a great use of her family’s wealth and privilege. Understandably, Edda has been forever changed by her experience in the war, and she returned home not only with trauma but guilt — what she could have done differently, what she could have done better. And the path to peace for her tell-tale heart is fraught.
Swoonworthy Scale: 1
There’s definitely something sweet simmering between Edda and Theo, her boarding house neighbour who helps her unravel the mystery. But this is not a swoony kind of book.
Talky Talk: Straight Up 1918
The story mostly takes place in Edda’s present day, with periodic flashbacks to her time overseas revealing what happened. This novel might be set over a hundred years ago, but Monica Hesse’s prose is still extremely accessible for the modern reader — in addition to being well researched.
Bonus Factor: Hello Girls
I love learning about history’s unsung heroes, so I couldn’t get enough of the Hello Girls.
Factor: Calling Your Shot
Without spoiling anything, there are a few minor parts of Edda’s investigation that aren’t followed up with because, quite simply, they outlived their narrative purpose of misdirection. The book even acknowledges that we don’t always get closure in life — which is valid! But this is fiction lol; fiction based on history, but fiction nonetheless. It might just feel like having your cake and eating it too to outright state ‘sometimes endings are unsatisfying’.
(To be clear, the main mystery does have a resolution, and I’m aware that I’m nitpicking over stuff that doesn’t matter. But you can’t give me juicy details and not expect me to want to know more!)
Relationship Status: Study Buddies
At the risk of being a nerd on main, this book introduced me to a really neat slice of history and made me want to learn more. Even though we had some nice and poignant moments, our relationship remains mostly educational.
Literary Matchmaking
The combination of codes and wars basically triggers a Pavlovian response to mention Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.
Another book that deals with the aftermath of WWI is Stacey Lee’s Heiress of Nowhere.
WAnd just to mix things up: a spy book! (The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif)
FTC Full Disclosure: I received my review copy from my local library; libraries are great! I received neither money nor gelato for writing this review (dammit!). The Brightwood Code is available now.
