Simon & Schuster The Secret Keeper

In The Secret Keeper, Genevieve Graham has breathed dazzling life into the Canadian women who served as codebreakers in the WRCNS (Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service) and in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA girls).It was fascinating to read about Hydra and Operation Fortitude, and how female Canadian codebreakers were involved with D-Day preparations. I also had no idea that Canadian women were building hurricane airplanes during World War II, decoding transmissions from German U-boats, or flying spitfires in England, or that German prisoners of war were held in Canada.This book made me proud to be Canadian!Yesterday on IG, Juliette Binoche was celebrating Meryl Streep and wrote: “Women’s contributions to history are still too invisible.” Still. Too. Invisible.Think of the many hidden stories buried in the tangled web of World War II that most know nothing about and we really must, to ensure that history does not repeat itself, and to honour the sacrifice that so many women and men made protect to our freedom.I’m in awe of Genevieve Graham’s ability to create a thrilling story based on women that history forgot.Twin sisters Dot and Dash are astonishingly singular heroines, and the love stories in this novel are so poignantly romantic.If you liked The Rose Code, you will LOVE The Secret Keeper.

Books about wars always have sad and regrettable aspects to them. They are however necessary reminders that we need to exercise care to avoid unnecessary conflict while still being necessary at times to preserve one’s democratic values. Good reminder of a little known aspect of our Canadian history.

Another fabulous book by Genevieve Graham. Her books just get better and better. Dot and Dash come to life in this book and the history part of the story is so believable. I cried and laughed as I read it. I'm so glad I found Ms Grahams books and recommend everyone read them. If all her books were in our school libraries, perhaps our children would enjoy history more. I've learned so much about Canadian history through her books that I never knew. Another great read. Awesome book, awesome author.

"As a Canadian, I was astounded by everything I'd never learned" is noted in the author's acknowledgements and it is exactly how I felt reading this book.After attending the OshKosh Airventure in Wisconsin last summer, I was so impressed with learning about the brave WASPs and now I am absolutely thrilled to read that we had our very own Canadian WRENs. Plus, learning that we had a signal intelligence post near my city, makes me want to dig deeper into its history and location. New discoveries that made me very happy.Dot, Dash and all the real women depicted within this book were courageous and did very heroic deeds for which they were never properly acknowledged. It is books like this that bring them back to life so that present-day never forgets. Lest we forget!

A beautiful story that taught me a lot about things I didn't know about the brilliant contributions of Canadians, women in particular, in WW2