Added by 1 member
A WALTER SCOTT PRIZE ACADEMY RECOMMENDED BOOK OF 2018!
In this literate and action-packed historical thriller, set during World War II, a plucky code-breaker fights to keep a deadly secret as her Bonnie-and-Clyde past threatens to catch up with her.
Thirty-year-old Lena Stillman is living a perfectly respectable life when a shocking newspaper headline calls up her past: it concerns her former lover, charismatic bank robber Bill Bagley. A romantic and charming figure, Lena had tried to forget him by resuming her linguistic studies, which led to her recruitment as a Navy code-breaker intercepting Japanese messages during World War II.
But can Lena keep her own secrets? Threatening notes and the appearance of an old diary that recalls her gangster days are poised to upset her new life.
Whom can she really trust? Is there a spy among the code-breakers? And who is it that wants her dead?
“Alisa Smith’s novel Speakeasy, set in the thirties and forties, is written with great authority. A wonderful read, and very convincing.” —Richard Bausch, author of Something Is Out There and Peace
Genre: Historical
In this literate and action-packed historical thriller, set during World War II, a plucky code-breaker fights to keep a deadly secret as her Bonnie-and-Clyde past threatens to catch up with her.
Thirty-year-old Lena Stillman is living a perfectly respectable life when a shocking newspaper headline calls up her past: it concerns her former lover, charismatic bank robber Bill Bagley. A romantic and charming figure, Lena had tried to forget him by resuming her linguistic studies, which led to her recruitment as a Navy code-breaker intercepting Japanese messages during World War II.
But can Lena keep her own secrets? Threatening notes and the appearance of an old diary that recalls her gangster days are poised to upset her new life.
Whom can she really trust? Is there a spy among the code-breakers? And who is it that wants her dead?
“Alisa Smith’s novel Speakeasy, set in the thirties and forties, is written with great authority. A wonderful read, and very convincing.” —Richard Bausch, author of Something Is Out There and Peace
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"Alisa Smith’s novel Speakeasy, set in the thirties and forties, is written with great authority. A wonderful read, and very convincing." - Richard Bausch
"In Alisa Smith’s Speakeasy, the history of the Pacific Northwest comes alive like you’ve never seen before. This gripping tale of Prohibition gangsters and wartime code-breakers reveals an inner world of shifting loyalties and unrequited love. Smith has crafted a fascinating, thought-provoking narrative that dares you to look away." - Brian Payton
"A great achievement, and pure pleasure. Speakeasy drew me into its wild heart and didn’t let go. The novel’s two narrators give a stereoscopic take on a life of crime during the Great Depression, and one of them - a bold, brilliant, somewhat unscrupulous young woman - is later recruited to crack Japanese codes at a secret Allied base in the Pacific Northwest." - Ronald Wright
"In Alisa Smith’s Speakeasy, the history of the Pacific Northwest comes alive like you’ve never seen before. This gripping tale of Prohibition gangsters and wartime code-breakers reveals an inner world of shifting loyalties and unrequited love. Smith has crafted a fascinating, thought-provoking narrative that dares you to look away." - Brian Payton
"A great achievement, and pure pleasure. Speakeasy drew me into its wild heart and didn’t let go. The novel’s two narrators give a stereoscopic take on a life of crime during the Great Depression, and one of them - a bold, brilliant, somewhat unscrupulous young woman - is later recruited to crack Japanese codes at a secret Allied base in the Pacific Northwest." - Ronald Wright
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Alisa Smith's Speakeasy