Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker
Sufiya Ahmed
Bloomsbury Education

Rosie Rajah’s third adventure is possibly even more exciting than her previous two. As the story starts, Rosie and her papa are parachuting over the Belgian countryside. On landing they are met by Brigitte, an American. The Americans have recently joined the war but it soon appears that Brigitte has her own agenda when it comes to the Nazis. Both of them though are involved in rescue missions; and there’s also a meeting up between Rosie’s papa and an old school friend.

Pretty soon, Papa announces that they need to head back to England, but first Rosie must change her appearance as the Nazis have issued an alert regarding her .
Once safely on English soil, Papa’s mission is to find the Nazi spy operating undercover at Station X aka Bletchley Park. His first stop though is at RAF Abingdon where he’s been asked to check out something and while so doing, Rosie meets Noor Inayat Khan. She’s working there as a radio operator deciphering messages and is a descendant of Tipu Sultan.

One of the amazing codebreakers Rosie encounters is Alan Turing who despite his genius, is a shy retiring character. But, there are also resistance fighters and double-crossers so Rosie has much to contend with and decide whom to trust especially when her father is in very serious danger. Can she keep her head and do something to save him?

Meanwhile back in pre-partition India, Rosie’s aunt, Rani-K is very involved in Gandhi’s Quit India Movement that is working to gain independence from British rule – another important piece of political history children will be made aware of.

Another truly gripping episode in the life of a girl who occasionally lets her emotions rather than her mind guide her actions. I was enthralled throughout.