Following THE LONDON BOOKSHOP AFFAIR, which was set in 1962, Louise Fein time-travels 10 years earlier and centuries before. BOOK OF FORBIDDEN WORDS is a thought-provoking novel that takes a page from Madeline Martin’s THE SECRET BOOK SOCIETY.

Milly Bennett evidently is a content housewife in 1952 Levittown, but during World War II, she was a code breaker in London deciphering Axis messages. A wartime colleague now asks her to interpret a four-century-old, cryptic manuscript that “could be historical gold in shedding some sort of light on women’s inner worlds.” Like Rosie the Riveter, Milly and others had performed men’s work “to prove their capability as equals.”

"Louise Fein piquantly breathes exquisite life into this period piece. The dynamic enthusiasm of the protagonist trio is a holographic tribute to her poetic passion. Beyond atmospheric, this treasure is…awe-inspiring!"

Sixty years after Columbus’ Caribbean cruise and her birth, Charlotte Guillard “had been around long enough to understand how the world of men worked.” She encounters Lysbette Angiers, formerly “an orphan girl with no money and no say in her future.” Lysbette wants Charlotte’s printing empire Soleil d’Or, which was established by a late husband, to publish a ciphered script that the church would consider heresy and incinerate it. That, and the author 121 years after Joan of Arc was burned alive. Charlotte “understands that the power of words and ideas can make our earthly realm a better one.”

After Lysbette’s life --- and throat --- are cut short, Charlotte endangers her own life and publishing reputation knowing that “women were forced to encrypt a manuscript because it contained ideas that went against the prevailing ideals.”

Returning to 1952, Milly poignantly realizes that little had changed for women in the four centuries since Charlotte published Lysbette’s inspired work. She couldn’t open her own bank account without her husband’s permission. Not fearing 16th-century religious persecution, Milly’s pseudonym publishes stories gleaned from the deciphered manuscript depicting a utopian life of equality.

But under J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, a clandestine campaign to purge suspected communist influences included a disproportionate crackdown on women, particularly those involved in civil rights or artistic fields. As part of the broad Red Scare and McCarthyism, the FBI focused on surveillance, infiltration, and “labeling” individuals as security risks, often using guilt-by-association à la Ethel Rosenberg. In view of her children, FBI agents nab Milly for questioning. Women “seem to be no freer than we were four hundred years ago.”

This is a tale of woefully lacking gender equality, the titular forbidden words. “It felt so urgent that people find a new tolerance for one another.” Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr’s famed 1849 proverb: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Louise Fein piquantly breathes exquisite life into this period piece. The dynamic enthusiasm of the protagonist trio is a holographic tribute to her poetic passion. Beyond atmospheric, this treasure is…awe-inspiring!

Reviewer’s note: BOOK OF FORBIDDEN WORDS was inspired by the early-15th-century encrypted Voynich manuscript. Real-life people populate the pages, including publishing icons Charlotte Guillard and Yolande Bonhomme, and aristocrat Thomas More. When referring to a book, “treasure” signifies a story deeply cherished for its sentiment. It indicates that the book is highly regarded as a “jewel” of personal, historical or intellectual worth.