First published 2025
Vivien Featherswallow wants nothing more than to secure an internship deciphering dragon languages in 1923 London. She plans to follow every rule and protect her little sister from dropping to Third Class status. Instead, by midnight she has ignited a civil war. Her parents face arrest. Her sister vanishes. The security Vivien built crumbles around her family. A stranger offers her a mysterious position at Bletchley Park as her only escape route. Vivien accepts and discovers she must work as a codebreaker for the war effort. Success means her family goes home alive. Failure means they all die. The task seems manageable at first. She must decode a secret dragon language. But each discovery reveals that her protected world was never as secure as she believed. Vivien realizes she must choose which war deserves her loyalty.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, fantasy, alternate-history
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Bletchley Park, London
Period: 1923
432 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins