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Book: “The Bletchley Riddle” by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin
Publishing Info: Viking Books for Young Readers, October 2024
Where Did We Get This Book: The Library!
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act…
Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi’s Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.
The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother’s disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?
Serena’s Thoughts
Other than the fact that this is a middle grade novel (I don’t tend to love reading this genre as an adult, which honestly makes me a bit sad!), this book was right up my alley! I enjoy both historical fiction as well as mysteries, and both are done so well in this story. I was also a big fan of the code-breaking and puzzle aspects. I enjoyed trying to put things together myself, but also was happy to simply follow along with the characters as they pieced it all together and then explained it to me later.
I have a long record on this blog of complaining about poorly executed alternating POVs, but this was a good example of how to do this right. One of my biggest complaints is that authors often have a hard time writing multiple characters in ways that make them feel distinct. This story was well suited for this, however, focusing on a pair of siblings, an older teenage brother and his younger middle grade sister. Between the age and gender differences, they both felt very distinct. It was also great following their different experiences with Bletchley Park and the roles they took on there.
I also thought many of the side characters were very good, and I appreciated the way the authors managed to weave in real-world historical figures throughout the text. It would have been nearly impossible to not include these figures, but there’s always the danger, when writing fiction, that any real-life characters won’t blend well with their fictional counterparts. Not the case here! I think both authors well understood the truth in the saying “a little goes a long way” in this area.
Overall, this was a great middle grade read! Not being a middle grade reader myself, I may not have enjoyed it as much as the target audience, but this would be an easy book to recommend to large swaths of younger readers!
Kate’s Thoughts
I too am not much of a middle grade reader unless the topic is VERY interesting to me, but I have loved basically every book I’ve read by Ruth Sepetys so I had pretty high hopes for this one. Middle grade or not. And I also find books about World War II’s ally home fronts interesting in general, especially for places like Britain that were dealing with the constant fear of invasion. And finally, I had some vague knowledge about Bletchley Park thanks to stories about Alan Turing, as well as the miniseries “The Bletchley Circle”. All of that combined to make this a potentially good match for me, and overall it was.
Now I’m not super good at codes and puzzles, but I really enjoyed the way that the authors not only explained the importance of Bletchley Park and the goals that it had, it also gives really accessible examples of codes and ciphers to contextualize what kind of work they were doing (and how daunting the Enigma Machine was even for the most skilled of code breakers). Similarly to how she writes historical fiction books for teens, Supetys really has a skill for bringing out the most interesting and sometimes complex topics and parsing out that information for her audience, this one being middle grade. I also liked how she not only touched on the British code breakers through Jakob’s work (and the important work of messengers like Lizzie, who could be young teens!), but also the code work that more in the thick of it countries were doing, like Poland.
I also generally enjoyed the sibling relationship between Jakob and Lizzie, who butt heads sometimes but always have each other’s backs even in the most stressful of times. We have not only the stress of being at Bletchley, the stress of being in a place that could be bombed at any time, AND the question of where their espionage adjacent mother is, who disappeared in Poland and who Lizzie is convinced in still alive (while British intelligence is convinced she is a traitor). Watching them not only try to figure out how they can help in any way they can at Bletchley but ALSO try and hold on without knowing where their mother is was at times emotional, and both Sepetys and Sheinkin bring their talents together to create an informative and gripping family story.
I found “The Bletchley Riddle” to be a well done World War II read that history buffs of ANY age may like!
Serena’s Rating 8: A great balance of historical facts and exciting adventure, perfect for any middle grade or young adult readers who are interested in learning more about the lesser-known parts of WWII.
Kate’s Rating 8: An accessible and entertaining historical fiction for kids about code breaking, World War II, and siblings fighting against Nazis and surviving a war in more ways than one.
Book Club Questions
- How familiar were you with the history of Bletchley Park before reading this book?
- Did the setting of World War II London ring true for you?
- We follow the Novis siblings, Lizzie and Jacob, with their voices alternating between chapters. Did you find these two characters voices different enough as you read the book? Did you like one perspective more than another?
- What did you think about the friendships in this book?
- How did you like the inclusion of real life figures like Alan Turing? Did it feel like it fit, or did it feel distracting?
- What were your thoughts on the mystery Willa Novis and her disappearance? What about the code mysteries?
Reader’s Advisory
“The Bletchley Riddle” is included on the Goodreads lists “World War Two England”, and “Books Set in Bletchley Park”.
Next Book Club Pick: “The Hacienda” by Isabel Cañas
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