I loved this narrative about two women, one a cryptographer and the other a rum runner. The setting of the prohibition era is not one that we frequently see in historical fiction. The characters were compelling and the plot was fast paced and enjoyable to read!

Anyone who enjoys an engrossing cat and mouse thriller will enjoy Ms. Robuck’s newest book. It takes place in the 1920s.

On the one side, readers meet Marie. As is sometimes the case, she feels that she can do a job better than her husband, even as she has the responsibility of motherhood. There is lots of money to be made rumrunning and Marie wants in.

Of course, the government has concerns about the illegal activity. One of their weapons is Elizabeth. Like Marie, Elizabeth has domestic responsibilities. Nonetheless, she is driven to work with the Coast Guard. She has a great skillset including cryptanalysis.

Who will trick whom? Who will ‘win?’ Will justice be done? Will Marie escape detection? Read this entertaining novel, based on truth, to find out. It offers a fun escape to those who enjoy suspenseful historical fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this title. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the eARC of The Last Twelve Miles! All opinions in this book are my own.

This historical fiction novel was fascinating! Based on real women, The Last Twelve Miles tells the story of Marie, a rumrunner based in Florida, and Elizebeth, a codebreaker for the government trying to stop the rumrunners during the Prohibition. I loved that the story switched between each woman's perspective and how exciting it was!

Fascinating look at the battle of brains between crypto analysts Elizebeth Friedman and rum runner Marie Waite in the 1920s off the waters of Florida. The book starts out slow but stay with it as it picks up and is well worth the read of the battle of wills of these two women. The book is fleshed out with surrounding characters to give a full story.
#netgalley #erikarobuk #stmartinspress #thelasttwelvemiles

I love reading about strong, smart, spunky women in books, especially when they are based on real women in history. This book featured two such women, adversaries in the rum war during prohibition. Elizebeth Friedman was an amazing and brilliant woman! This story gave insight into her codebreaker skills that went far beyond the rum war era.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this enjoyable and insightful historical fiction book.

This one is for my historical fiction friends! Set during the 1920s Prohibition era, this is a story of two strong women on opposite sides of the law. Elizabeth is a codebreaker working with the Coast Guard to bust rumrunners transporting liquor from the Bahamas and Cuba to Florida. Marie Waite has taken over the bootlegging empire after Cleo, The Bahama Queen retired. At first she had plans to make enough money to set her family up for life, but after getting a taste of power she has a hard time knowing when enough is enough.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦:
✨ Prohibition era
✨ Non-war historical fiction
✨ strong female characters
✨ cat and mouse
✨ dual-POV

The Prohibition Era is not one of my go-to time periods when reading historical fiction, but I loved Erika Robuck's The Invisible Woman and knew I had to read The Last Twelve Miles.

I love when an author brings to light a little-known piece of history. And Robuck does an awesome job of unearthing stories of women in history. So while I don't really have an interest in prohibition, I was sucked into this story of 2 strong women on opposite sides of the law.

This book reads really fast. I think I read it in about 3 or 4 days and just the hours I was floating in the pool. The writing is so smooth you don't realize that you've been reading for hours and 100 pages feel like 20.

I did struggle in the beginning with keeping the time period in mind. There are a lot of motorized boats which I haven't really encountered in the historical fiction I've read. And I was shocked that Elizabeth didn't encounter more sexism. Perhaps it is because she is so brilliant and has a talent that few men possess.

I didn't find this to be an intense read. There was definitely a game of cat-and-mouse happening and even some real danger, but it didn't feel like there were high stakes involved. Perhaps because they were small-time bootleggers, unlike the organized crime syndicates in Chicago and New York City. There are mentions of Al Capone, which I didn't realize set up shop in Florida as well.

Perhaps it is less intense because the story is really focused on Elizabeth and Marie as successful, high-powered women and not the bootlegging (though we do see several runs). At a time when few women had to balance family and careers, these women are at the top of the career ladder and yet have children.

It is a really interesting story and I don't know why there hasn't been more written about Elizabeth. Her life would make a good movie.

If you enjoy biographical fiction that focuses on women in history. then this is the book for you. And if you like to know what happens to the people after the end of the story, Robuck provides information about them at the end so be sure to read the historical and author notes.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Thursday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2024/07/the-last-twelve-miles-by-erika-robuck.html

Another fantastic novel by Erika Robuck! “The Last Twelve Miles” is the story of two strong, independent minded women on either side of the law during Prohibition. Marie is a rum runner who, along with her husband, bring rum from the Caribbean to Florida. Elizabeth is a cryptologist working for the Coast Guard to break the radio communications that Marie and her team are using. It was a hard one to put down!

Based on real people, Ms. Robuck does massive amounts of research on her characters and the time period of the story. For me, this makes the story that much more interesting. Her characters are strong female leads from times that we don’t hear about a lot of strong women. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Robuck’s for years, and continue to recommend her books.

I wanted way more rum runner and code breaking activity as promised, but at this point all we've really gotten is a very little bit of both with a lot of 'baby on board' and 'I grew up in poverty'.

Also for being set in Miami and Key West, it doesn't really feel like it's been set there. The author just calls out a well known street and the Key West roosters, but doesn't bring Key West to life.

This is a DNF for me at 23%.

I really thought I was going to like this one, but I just could not get in to it, and I’m not entirely sure why. After trying to start it four times, I finally waived the white flag and DNFed it.

I’ve loved every Erika Robuck book I’ve read. If you love reading about fascinating women in history, read an Erika Robuck novel.

Set in 1920s Washington D.C., Miami, Key West, Bahamas, and Cuba, Robuck introduces readers to two fascinating women on both sides of the law. Elizebeth is a top-secret code-breaker working for the US Coast Guard. Marie is a rumrunner, smuggling liquor across the sea into Florida during Prohibition. The US Coast Guard can’t keep up with all the traffic and they enlist Elizebeth to help. Elizebeth and her husband both work for the government and are the inventors of cryptoanalysis, a process of using algorithms to decipher the secret text.

Through alternating chapters, readers are allowed into the minds of Elizebeth and Marie which offers readers a unique perspective. In one chapter, you’ll hope that Elizebeth can determine the rumrunners’ codes so they are caught. But, in the next chapter, you’ll be rooting for Marie to get away with her latest liquor delivery.

Both Elizebeth and Marie are mothers yet have different motivations. Elizebeth is torn between wanting to be a mother to her children and using her brain for the specific sophisticated job of decoding messages. Marie enjoys motherhood but doesn’t like her husband. She is blinded by her desire to keep making more and more money and get as far away from a life of poverty as she can. As she makes more money, her husband gambles it away or spends it frivolously. Marie is driven by money and can’t get enough of it which may just lead to her downfall.

As you can imagine there is a lot of discontent in Marie’s household. As she gets smarter and brings in new technology (radios), Elizebeth has to work harder and more hours to decode their messages. The cat-and-mouse chase gets intense, people are killed, and danger lurks everywhere. It’s a thrilling adventure right up to the end and I was sad to finish reading about the lives of these women.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

This prohibition story was brand new to me. I’ve read other prohibition stories set in the Midwest since Al Capone ran a lot of the liquor runs from Chicago. Robuck describes her setting with such detail that I felt like I could almost hear the boats coming into shore. The title of the book relates to The Last Twelve Miles of the journey to the US Coast. Those twelve miles are when the rumrunner’s load of liquor is considered contraband. The first part of the journey their cargo is legal. In those last twelve miles, the codes become so important and the race to escape or trick the Coast Guard becomes imperative.

Two intelligent women in history, one who enforced the law and one who regularly broke it, kept me turning the pages. It was a thrilling adventure and one that left me wanting to know more about these women and googling their images. Fans of historical fiction that isn’t a war story will find this fast-paced novel about real women in history to be a great read.

I really tried to like this book but ended up DNF at about 25%. I am not sure why the characters and story didn't click with me. I am giving it two stars even though I DNF. It wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't for me and I have other books I would rather read.

Elizebeth Friedman is a codebreaker for the US Navy. Marie Waite has become Queen of the rumrunners with the retirement of Cleo Lythogoe. They are in an intense game of cat and mouse as Marie tries to gain more clients and Elizebeth tries to crack her secret codes.

In this fun and complicated historical fiction novel, readers travel to 1926 United States during Prohibition when Elizebeth Friedman works for the Coast Guard as a cryptanalyst, breaking the codes of alcohol smugglers in the Gulf of Mexico including Marie Waite -- Spanish Marie, a clever and calculating rum runner. Alternating between their two perspectives as professional women and rivals in the alcohol smuggling world, readers gain some fascinating insight into these two incredibly powerful women and their stories from the early twentieth century. The contrasts and similarities between the two women are particularly powerful, as they highlight their groundbreaking positions as smugglers and federal cryptanalysts while also showcasing their struggles with domestic life and women’s historic domestic roles. The two characters are complex, unique, and fully developed, with complex and unique personalities adding to the events and situations they find themselves in during this novel. Robuck’s research into Friedman and Waite clearly shows in this novel, as she draws on critical elements of their lives and work to build out the novel’s historical setting. A fantastic insight into two different women and their groundbreaking lives, Robuck’s historical fiction novel is fascinating, immersive, and engaging with its vibrant setting and complicated female characters.

The Last Twelve Miles by Erika Robuck masterfully intertwines the lives of two formidable women during the Prohibition era: Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a cryptanalyst for the Coast Guard, and Marie Waite, an ambitious rumrunner known as Spanish Marie. Elizebeth, juggling her duties as a wife and mother, dedicates herself to cracking smugglers' codes to dismantle the rum trade. Meanwhile, Marie rises through the ranks of the rumrunning world, driven by the need to secure her family's future. Their paths cross in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, set against the vibrant yet perilous backdrop of the 1920s. Robuck's detailed historical research and compelling character portrayals make this novel a captivating and insightful read about resilience, ambition, and the complexities of law and crime.

this was such an intriguing historical fiction! I find the prohibition era to be pretty interesting. I love that this book focuses on two women at opposite sides of the issue.
Elizabeth is such a strong and powerful woman. She works tirelessly and is so smart deciphering codes and finding what makes each smuggler tick. Her husband is the ultimate supporter, encouraging his wife to hire help so that can focus on the career she loves. Marie is a fighter, climbing her way up from poverty but always wanting more. She was so cutthroat, but I loved reading about her finding more of her humanity and bonding more with her children as the story went on. The book has great character development, a fast and engaging plot line and is well worth the read!

I concluded my week of 1920s - prohibition era- reading with Erica Robuck's new book The Last Twelve Miles about two women Elizebeth Smith Friedman a codebreaker who worked for the coast guard and was an early working woman the first and so far only woman in charge of a codebreaking unit in America - on the other side there is Spanish Marie/ Marie Waite, a woman building her rum running empire.
The two of them are locked in a battle of wits as Marie is trying to outsmart the coast guard and smuggle switching the route from the Florida/Bahamas to Florida/Cuba - can Marie outsmart the Coast Guard and make them work for her to eliminate the competition or will they manage to outsmart her and dismantle her run running business? This book sheds a light on the time of prohibition and the efforts that went into maintaining it and breaking the rules. Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a fascinating person, I am ever glad to have learned more about her reading this book !

This was a very interesting story not only from the standpoint of the rum smuggling by a woman but also from the standpoint of the highly intelligent agent Elizebeth Friedman who was able to crack the complex code the smugglers used and go on to become the first woman to head an intelligence group for the Coast Guard. The story is fast paced with great characters and vivid descriptions of the area at the time. The author has provided notes on the two main characters detailing what is fiction and what is fact. There is some interesting additional information on Google about Elizebeth as well as about Marie Waite for additional research.

I’ve been a fan of Erika Robuck since I read Hemingway’s Girl years ago. In fact, that book got me hooked on historical fiction set during Hemingway’s time and the Prohibition Era. Her new novel is inspired by real life women on opposite sides of the law during one of the most tumultuous times in American history. On one side, the famous female cryptanalyst, Elizebeth Friedman, and her husband working in D.C. intelligence, and the other side is Marie Waite, a real-life bootlegger, and her husband. During this time in history, organized crime and rum-running was prevalent all along the South Florida coast. It was a violent time to be working in the Coast Guard, attempting to keep smugglers from bringing liquor to the United States from the Bahamas and Cuba. In this story, the players are both females trying to prove themselves to their male counterparts in a very violent game. I love how Robuck writes strong, intelligent women and this one is one of her best! It is action-packed and had me rooting for both of them at different times! I will happily recommend this to my reader friends who like learning about little-known strong females throughout history who made a difference.

This novel puts two strong women against each other. Marie is married to a rum-runner in Florida during prohibition @nd she is slowly taking over and expanding the business and their fortune. Elizebeth is a special agent code breaker working with the coast guard to catch these run-runners during prohibition. It’s an interesting look at an era I don’t know much about.