The Paper Birds

Finished July 13

The Paper Birds by Jeannette Lynes

This historical novel follows Toronto high school graduate Gemma Sullivan from June 1943 through the end of World War II. Gemma was orphaned when her parents drowned in a swimming accident and she's had a fear of water ever since. She was raised by her Aunt Wren, a former milliner and now a seamstress. One of her teachers has recommended her for a job doing code breaking and with her signature on the Official Secrets Act, she can't tell her aunt, or anyone else what she actually does, so she just says office work.

Aunt Wren is still grieving the loss of her fiancé in World War I and her declining eyesight has led her to stop working in millinery and put them into precarious financial circumstances, so Gemma's income is very important for them. They also decide to take in a lodger, Rooney Delacroix, a young woman from Gravenhurst who has a job working at a tannery in the city. Rooney is a pleasant girl, but has her own secrets. 

Beatrice Fearing, Gemma's supervisor, worked as a math professor before working on code breaking and there are three other young women that work in the same small cottage near the lake. Cora-Lynn Ponder, a university math student had taken classes from Miss Fearing. Hester Hobbs is good with logical problems, and Ada Swift also works at another site where she secrets a variety of devices in objects. She's a good analyst. 

Wren is glad to use some of Gemma's pay to go to an eye doctor and get new glasses, and along with improved eyesight, she begins to look forward in her life with more optimism. 

One lunch hour, when Gemma takes a walk, she encounters a hungry cat and a young man behind a fence of a POW camp. She develops feelings for both, and must decide whether to trust her instincts. 

The war work is interesting and I enjoyed the personalities of the different women in the novel. Some of the coincidences in connections were a stretch, but it was still an enjoyable read.