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57 pages 1 hour read

Kate Quinn

The Rose Code

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Character Analysis

Osla Kendall

As one of the novel’s three protagonists, Osla Kendall is a dark haired, dimpled debutante loosely based on the historical figure Osla Benning. Blessed with a wry sense of humor, Osla enjoys writing satirical prose. Excerpts from her weekly “Bletchley Bletherings” appear at the headings of many chapters, and they provide insight not only into events at BP but also into Osla’s cheeky, intrepid personality. Coming from a high-class background, Osla is used to getting her way, and she is not afraid to take initiative, as when she calls out BP’s commander for what she perceives as lax security. Her confidence, however, masks underlying insecurity about the way she is perceived as a silly socialite. By the end of the novel, when she can look back on a string of accomplishments, she realizes that she “had proved herself to everyone who mattered” (612).

In addition to overcoming her insecurities, Osla’s arc centers on her search for home. At first, Osla feels that she lacks a proper home; her father is dead, and her mother is a frequently remarried socialite who has little time for Osla. For a while, she imagines that she might find home in a romantic relationship: when she meets Philip on leave at the train station, he comments, “I’m not just back. […] I’m home” (230). This leads Osla to ponder whether she and Philip can provide a home of sorts to each other. When she and Philip drift apart, she gives up on the idea for a while, even accepting Giles’s marriage proposal. Only when she broadens her perspective to realize that BP itself became a kind of home to her, and the relationships she formed there will last, does she feel that her search has ended.

Mabel “Mab” Churt

Mab Churt is another of the novel’s protagonists. Tall, with imposing eyebrows, Mab comes from a working-class background, and she aspires to a better life for her and her daughter, Lucy. To that end, she studies literature and high-society magazines, though she admits to a taste for more popular spy novels, such as those by Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie. Her ambitious work ethic sees her come out of a secretarial course with top marks, good enough to earn her a summons to BP. There, she proves a diligent and capable worker.

Mab’s narrative arc follows her difficulty in overcoming various trauma and loss. Her teenage relationship with a university student devolves into a sexually abusive one and leaves her a single mother. From this experience, she carries anxieties into her future relationships, which she only relinquishes gradually as Francis and then Mike earn her trust. The deaths of Francis and Lucy pose another significant challenge to Mab, who finds that grief makes her “selfish and hateful” (413). Only after enduring months of bitterness and detachment does Mab begin to realize how self-destructive her behavior has become, enabling her to begin setting things right.

Bethan “Beth” Finch

Beth Finch is the novel’s third protagonist. Obsessive and socially awkward, Beth is introduced to readers as she stares into the petals of a rose, which features spiral patterns that fascinate her, as do dances and brick walls. Her mother, Mrs. Finch, raises Beth in an oppressive home environment characterized by strict rules with heavy punishments. However, not even Mrs. Finch’s influence can stop Beth from recognizing her incredible talent for solving puzzles. Beth goes on to have a distinguished career at BP, where she is motivated more by the desire to solve codes than by strong feelings about the war. Her clear-cut, analytical thinking, while superbly suited to breaking codes, does sometimes leave her to struggle in less quantifiable areas, including human relationships.

Beth’s character arc revolves around her increasing resilience and autonomy in the face of overbearing, authoritarian environments, first at home and then within Clockwell Sanitarium. As she realizes that she is not only capable but gifted at cryptanalysis, she begins to assert herself more readily, as when she gives “the first direct order of her life” after helping break the Italian Enigma traffic (155). Later, her time in the psychiatric hospital pushes her nearly to her breaking point, but she manages to turn the tables on Giles after years of careful planning, evincing both her resilience and her newfound confidence.

Giles Talbot

Giles Talbot is a friendly, red-haired man who arranges for Beth to be sent to Clockwell Sanitarium to prevent his treason from being discovered. Giles is the first person Mab and Osla meet within BP, and when they first see him, he emerges from the lake all but naked, as if he has nothing to hide. Though Giles has a charming personality, some of his interactions carry subtle sexist and racist undertones, as when he calls Osla “kitten” during their engagement despite her repeated objections. His falling out with Harry, meanwhile, comes after he tells Harry not to be “thin skinned as well as dark skinned” during their discussion of Gone With the Wind (305).

Giles’s character doesn’t notably change throughout the novel. Instead, his negative character traits are gradually revealed to readers. Though he claims honorable intentions in his communication with the Soviet Union, he accepts fees for his work and shows a similar willingness to out Osla to the tabloids for a fee when he and Osla are engaged. His downfall comes not because he is purely evil or unrepentant; rather, he overestimates his own power when he visits Beth in person, revealing himself as the person responsible for her predicament and enabling his own capture.

Francis Gray

Francis Gray is Mab’s first husband, a stout, middle-aged veteran of World War I, known for the poetry he wrote during and after his military service. At first, Francis is perceived primarily through Mab’s perspective, who struggles to understand the soft-spoken, deeply self-critical man. Still haunted by his war experience, Francis sleeps only a few hours at a time and rarely laughs. Upon meeting Mab, however, he gains a newfound zest for life, and he proposes after only a few dates. Mab soon discovers that Francis most fully expresses himself in writing rather than speaking.

Though he is burdened by a dark past, Francis makes a loving and committed husband to Mab, who is struggling to leave parts of her past behind as well. Francis thus demonstrates both the residual impact of trauma as well as the possibility of making the most of life despite it.

Harry Zarb

Henry “Harry” Zarb is a codebreaker at BP who becomes a love interest to Beth. As a large man of Arab, Maltese, and Egyptian descent, Harry is the occasional target of racist comments. He is particularly sensitive when such comments are directed at his son, Christopher. Harry has a keen sense of duty and integrity, which are manifest in his decision to marry his girlfriend, Sheila, when she becomes pregnant, as well as in his decision to enlist even though he already contributes to the war effort through his work at BP.

Over the course of the novel, Harry and Christopher are subject to increasing ridicule for Harry’s apparent unwillingness to fight. Though those judgments are based on mistaken assumptions, Harry is deeply bothered by them, especially since he cannot confide the truth about BP to Christopher. Though Harry does manage to enlist and return home safely after the war, his experiences reveal a dark side to the public mania that took hold during the war.

Dilwyn “Dilly” Knox

Dilly Knox is Beth’s friend and mentor at BP. Her first impression is to compare him with the White Knight, an eccentric yet heroic character from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. Dilly’s experience as a codebreaker began in World War I, and his expertise lands him a leadership position during World War II. Quinn enriches Dilly’s characterization with surprisingly aggressive driving, phonetic spellings of his speech patterns (such as “gels” instead of “girls”), and samples of his poetry. When he receives accolades for his work, Dilly humbly passes the award on to his team.

Dilly becomes a father figure to Beth and a foil character to her own father. When Beth rejects her father’s bid for her to return home in Chapter 52, then thinks immediately after of Dilly “telling her she was the best of his Fillies” (420). With a tendency to forget everything except for the unbroken code in front of him, Dilly is one of the few people to whom Beth can readily relate. His death is so painful to her that she finds it easier to pretend he is still there able to talk with her than to face the fact of his death.

Prince Philip

Prince Philip, later the Duke of Edinburgh, is Osla’s longtime boyfriend. Kind and gallant, Philip prizes his royal honor highly, seeking to distinguish himself (and distance himself from Nazi relatives) through his military service. His relationship with Osla develops in the context of Mab’s warnings that men often use, then abandon, women. Unlike the men who treated Mab crudely, Philip demonstrates restraint throughout his relationship with Osla, even refraining from sex so as to not raise her expectations.

Philip and Osla drift apart when she is forbidden to write to him, though they continue to have feelings for each other. Their relationship becomes a casualty of war when, due to poor timing and social pressure, it gives way to Philip’s subsequent romance with Elizabeth. As a prince, and as Osla’s first love, Philip represents both the height of Osla’s fancy and the crush of broken dreams.

The Finches

Mr. and Mrs. Muriel Finch are Beth’s parents. Mrs. Finch is particularly domineering towards Beth, whom she relies on to do errands and household chores. Mrs. Finch’s ideas about right and wrong, as well as gender roles, are traditional, and she disapproves of Beth’s work at BP, her social outings with Mab and Osla, and her pet dog, Boots. She frequently cites the Bible and administers moderate physical punishment to Beth to exert control over her.

When Beth leaves her parents, they make a few attempts to win her back, but she is never tempted to return. Later, news comes that Mr. Finch, who went along with Mrs. Finch’s demands through Beth’s childhood, left Mrs. Finch, perhaps inspired by Beth’s example. The Finch family thus represents the difficulty of navigating generation gaps and relationship dynamics when the balance of power is so one-sided.

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