A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White Review

 The Codebreakers #3 

September 8th 2020, 272 Pages, Bethany House 

Print E-book and Audio

Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: London, 1918


Zivon Marin was one of Russia's top cryptographers, until the October Revolution tore apart his world. Forced to flee after speaking out against Lenin and separated from his brother along the way, he arrives in England driven by a growing anger and determined to offer his services to the Brits.

Lily Blackwell sees the world best through the lens of a camera--and possesses unsurpassed skill when it comes to retouching and recreating photographs. With her father's connections in propaganda, she's recruited to the intelligence division, even though her mother would disapprove.

After Captain Blackwell invites Zivon to dinner one evening, a friendship blooms between him and Lily. He sees patterns in what she deems chaos; she sees beauty in a world he thought destroyed. But both have secrets they're unwilling to share. When her photographs reveal that someone has been following Zivon, his loyalties are called into question--and his enemies are discovered to be far closer than he'd feared.

 

 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

  This novel was an excellent conclusion to the Codebreakers Series. One of my favourite things about Roseanna M. White books is how she weaves little known historical details and events into her story, whilst peopling them with colourful and realistic characters.

A Portrait of Loyalty is no exception, featuring Russian political refugees in the closing months of WW1. Not all however, are as they seem. Some are secretly Bolsheviks in disguise pursuing their own agenda.

Romance and family drama features into the story, but neither really detracts from the narrative, nor are the faith messages heavy handed. That's another thing I appreciate, actually, is how the religious traditions of the various characters are authentic and treated respectfully. Russian Orthodox come over as Russian Orthodox, not American Evangelicals with Russian accents, as in case with some novels.

Overall, a great conclusion to the trilogy, with some cameos from characters old and new.

Thanks to Bethany House for enabling me to read this title via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not required to write a positive review