Amy Lynn Green has always loved history and reading, and she enjoys speaking with book clubs, writing groups, and libraries all around the country. Her debut novel, Things We Didn’t Say, was nominated for a 2021 Minnesota Book Award and won two Carol Awards. Things We Didn’t Say and The Blackout Book Club received starred reviews from both Booklist and Library Journal. Amy and her family make their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Amy shares her love for history and her research process for her latest novel.
FF: Can you please provide a brief summary of your novel The Codebreaker’s Daughter?
The Codebreaker’s Daughter is a mother-daughter novel of intrigue and family drama based on the real experiences of women serving the country in behind-the-scenes intelligence roles. I loved having the chance to explore some little-known history about the women who helped win both World Wars.
FF: How did you research the operations of the OSS during World War II?
Primary sources are always my favorite to use, and thankfully many of the OSS handbooks, memorandums, radio program transcripts, and mission details are declassified and easily accessible today. I had a chance to go through many such documents and decide what best fit the plot and characters I had in mind for The Codebreaker’s Daughter. The novel is crammed with fascinating historical details about what the OSS was up to. The organization was designed to use outside-of-the-box methods to defeat the Axis powers, everything from complex networks of support for resistance groups to toilet paper with Hitler’s face on it.
FF: Can you tell us about your research into the real women who served as codebreakers during World War I? What surprised you most and what details did you end up incorporating?
I was shocked (and delighted) to learn that America’s entire codebreaking program was essentially started by a group of Shakespeare scholars volunteered by a millionaire to crack the codes for all branches of the US military. No one in America was prepared for war, and very few knew anything about complex ciphers, but a group of women on an Illinois estate called Riverbank Laboratories had enough experience that the government called on them, delivering bulging bags of ciphers to crack. And because they had to, they made incredible advancements in cryptography under the direction of William and Elizebeth Friedman, both brilliant codebreakers and secondary characters in my novel. The events of the WWI timeline in my book are almost entirely the story of Riverbank just as it happened, including many sometimes-stranger-than-fiction details.
FF: How did you balance historical accuracy with creating compelling fiction?
For this one, the history was so compelling that the biggest challenge was how much of it I would be able to include! I have many “deleted scenes” that didn’t make the final cut, but I always love placing ordinary, fictional characters into the real dilemmas and events of history. As for the smaller details, a question I like to ask is, “Would this serve the story, or am I just trying to squeeze it in because I think it’s interesting?” If it’s the latter, I save it in a separate document that I use for things like social media posts. A historical fact is never wasted!
FF: The novel shifts between two time periods. What challenges did you face in weaving these timelines together?
Again, the hardest part was mainly that there was so much story that could have been told! Another writer could easily write a full novel in each time period, but I loved the fact that by including parts of two women’s experiences in different wars, I could compare and contrast both their personalities and also the unique challenges they faced in their time. Also, there are lots of secrets revealed in the story, so I had to make sure not to give away too much about the WWI chapters in the WWII chapters.
FF: The journal plays a crucial role in connecting past and present. What made you choose this storytelling device?
I love adding some kind of epistolary element to each of my books, and Lillian’s journal, along with a few letters included in other chapters, fulfilled that for this novel. I felt it would be easier for Lillian, who tends to be reticent about her past, to reveal more about her life in written form than when actually speaking to her daughter, so the journal worked well from a character perspective as well.
FF: The mother-daughter relationship between Lillian and Dinah is intriguing and complex. How did you develop these characters and their dynamic?
As the mother of one daughter when I started this novel and another by the time I finished it, I knew I wanted to write a story that explored the complexities of the relationship between a mother and a daughter venturing into adulthood. Lillian’s own mother left her with a terrible example to follow, so she isn’t sure how to communicate her love for her daughter. Dinah, very different from her mother in personality and interests, feels, perhaps unjustly, that Lillian has always expected too much from her. The scenes featuring both of them, and especially the understanding and reconciliation that develop between them, were helpful in developing my own empathy as a mom.
Most of all, though, I wanted to end with a thought for readers to consider: the temptation to expect motherhood to provide all our fulfilment and purpose. As Lillian finds out, no role we play can bear that weight. The discussion of how faith in God can help us find identity and realign our priorities and expectations is something I needed as much as my characters did.
FF: Your book deals with issues related to mental health, including how various struggles have been misunderstood and stigmatized. How does this theme resonate with modern readers?
As I wrote this book, several people close to me were in the midst of a struggle with severe depression, anxiety, and other sometimes-debilitating mental illnesses. All three of them shared that what hurt them the most was the response of society, employers, and even well-meaning friends and family members in the middle of a difficult time.
What surprised me most was that the conversations I had with them mirrored concerns I found in the journals and letters of historical people I based my characters on—trying to present a cheerful public face, worrying about the treatments available and their potential side effects, grieving the brokenness of a mind that wasn’t functioning the way it should, wondering why God would allow everything to feel hard and sometimes even hopeless . . . the list goes on.
I hope readers are able to step into empathy with those who suffer by reading this novel and “listening” to the characters express these emotions.
FF: What do you hope readers take away from The Codebreaker’s Daughter?
I hope readers will ask some of the same questions I did while I wrote this novel: Why should we work to understand those who are vastly different from us? How can we overcome the fear of asking for help and share our fears and failures with loving people in our lives? What are the signs we’ve put our identity in what we can accomplish rather than who we are? If a reader resonates with any of those themes in Lillian and Dinah’s story, I’ll be happy.
FF: What are you working on next?
With a baby and a toddler, my writing pace is slower, but I am working on an as-yet-untitled novel that will explore WWII Philadelphia and takes its plotline inspiration from a classic novel. Stay tuned for more details!
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The Codebreaker’s Daughter
Amy Lynn Green
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Genre: Historical
Release Date: June 17, 2025
Available Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
ASIN: 0764242997
ISBN-13: 978-0764242991
Book Summary:
Lillian once cracked ciphers during WWI–now, her daughter, Dinah, is trapped doing clerical work for the WWII OSS. Though Lillian is hesitant to return to wartime work, she is drawn to Washington, DC, by an old acquaintance. As a web of intrigue grows ever wider, mother and daughter must confront secrets in DC before the impending D-Day is compromised.
In the heart of the US capital, Dinah Kendall’s role for the Office of Strategic Services isn’t the thrilling espionage career she dreamed of. Instead, she spends her days crafting rumors aimed at undermined Axis morale. As Dinah navigates her duties, she uncovers a starting revelation: Her mother, Lillian, was once a codebreaker, cracking military ciphers during the Great War alongside some of the nation’s most brilliant minds. The deeper Dinah dives into her mother’s past, the more secrets comes to light – including the heavy cost of high-stakes codebreaking.
Lillian, although resolute in her decision to avoid war work, reluctantly enters the fray when old friends in Washington, DC. seek her expertise. Both mother and daughter find themselves working behind the scenes – and working together – to support the Allied cause. But just when Dinah begins to excel in her new position, everything she’s worked so hard to obtain comes crashing down around her. Caught in a web of intrigue and unsure who to trust, she must piece together the truth in time to confront the shadowy threat that could compromise the impending D-Day invasion.
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