Taking a new approach to the topic of World War I, the author seamlessly blends fact with fiction to create the secretive world of cryptographers. A savant teenage girl, 'from Antarctica,' coupled with a young man called 'Eighteen' dance around each other throughout the entire novel, eventually culminating in a satisfying ending (to the reader). In the meantime, other cryptographers play in and out of the story, cracking codes, thwarting the Germans, and generally doing their best to keep the people of England safe...without them ever knowing about the danger they were in. Those with a mathematical bent will find the story riveting and be interested in certain elements of the historical fact, as well as the way that the main character thinks, but even readers without a head for numbers will be interested in the espionage and race to crack the code and save lives!