I had to step back and really assess what I thought about this book when I finished it. I did enjoy it, and I think my favorite aspect of the story was the friendship between Julia and Maddie--it was beautiful and heartbreaking. I think one of the reasons I didn't rate this book higher is because I sometimes felt SO LOST while reading it. It didn't come off as overly technical, but there were definitely some parts where I was left figuratively scratching my head. And sometimes I lost the thread of the narrative in the middle of a paragraph. Maybe that speaks more to my state of mind while reading it than anything else. 
 The novel is written from the perspective of both Julia and Maddie and it describes their deep friendship, their work during World War II, and the troubles they had doing that work. I absolutely love anything and everything dealing with World War II--the history is just fascinating, and I'm always prepared for some deep feelings when I dive into a WWII novel--I just can't help it. 
 I thought the end (well...near the end. Really, it was the pivotal point in the story, written from Maddie's perspective and which I won't give away :)) was the most painful and beautiful scene I've read in a novel in a LONG TIME. I actually think I'd like to reread this novel one day to be able to explore the narrative and characters more deeply.