The Brightwood Code
by Monica Hesse
High School    Little, Brown    336 pp.
5/24    9780316045650    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780316045711    $10.99

In 1918 Washington, DC, eighteen-year-old Edda St. James is working as a switchboard operator for the Bell telephone company while living in her aunt’s boarding house. Though she is grateful for the job, she still suffers fear and anxiety from her recent stint as a Hello Girl operator on the WWI French front, where she patched through coded messages under extreme pressure. Now an anonymous caller has taken her right back with the mention of one word: Brightwood. The word she forgot in a crucial moment, the word she is convinced got the entire Forty-Eighth Regiment from Baltimore killed in battle. Edda is terrified. Who is the caller, and what do they want? With the help of her handsome neighbor, Theo, Edda sets out to discover the caller’s identity and somehow atone for her devastating mistake. Hesse maintains steady suspense by alternating between Edda’s recent past in France and her present. Red herrings abound as the chapters race toward a climax, and readers may believe that several different characters could be responsible for Edda’s torment until the truth, shockingly personal and close to home (and involving a serial sexual abuser), is finally revealed. Historical fiction fans will enjoy this illuminating look at a little-known aspect of WWI.

From the "September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.