He has been plucked from Cambridge due to his math skills and sent to a secret location - Bletchley Park – to work on deciphering intercepted German messages. Improbably, he is allowed to bring Lizzie back with him and she sees what has become the headquarters for Britain’s codebreakers:
[My] breath pulls back with a gasp. The mansion stands before me in the distance. A hulking, labyrinth of a manor, punctuated with chimneys of all shapes and sizes. Sturdy red bricks adjourn pale stone accented by ornamental flourishes. Across the face of the house are countless windows in white wooden frames. I spot porches, a conservatory, and an odd copper dome wedged in on the side. It’s the type of estate that must be full of hidden doorways and secret passages, a sprawl of a mansion whose stairs creak and speak, while the windows rattle on the wind.
It’s not maudlin. It’s marvelous.
Lizzie becomes one of the youngest messengers at Bletchley Park, carrying missives to the different huts, which gives her time to agonize about her mother and come up with various ways to investigate her disappearance, while Jakob is focused on German ciphers. Then they receive a coded article in the mail, which Lizzie is sure is from their mother. For the first time, they begin to wonder if their mother’s disappearance could be related to Jakob’s codebreaking.
Lizzie is both resourceful and irrepressible and, fortunately, she makes friends very easily so is soon surrounded by people willing to help her, as well as a few less tolerant, such as Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, who want to ship her to Cleveland so she’ll stop bothering him and his staff.
This is a very appealing novel, which would be the perfect gift for the 10-13 year old whose parents loved The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, as well as for adults who enjoy middle grade fiction. The story is told in alternating chapters from Lizzie or Jakob’s perspective. I was surprised to find it was a collaboration: Ruta Sepetys is an award-winning author and I was unfamiliar with Steve Sheinkin but he has written a lot of history for young readers. I am guessing they created an outline together, then Ruta likely wrote the Lizzie chapters and Steve wrote the Jakob chapters. Some suspension of disbelief is required for Lizzie’s antics but that did not detract from my enjoyment. Not to mention, it is a lot more upbeat than Salt to the Sea and I Must Betray You, the last two books by Sepetys I read!
Publication: Viking, hardcover, 2024
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Source: Library
This my 28th book for Marg's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Those interested in nonfiction about Bletchley Park should check out the website I made for a class a few years ago. I was also excited to visit in 2022.
Off the Blog: The Wizard of Oz is everywhere this week! My niece Tess played Dorothy in her school production this past weekend and, here, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy proudly shows a special cut of the (then) new Wizard of Oz movie to his party guests. Lizzie’s friend finds the flying monkeys terrifying.
[My] breath pulls back with a gasp. The mansion stands before me in the distance. A hulking, labyrinth of a manor, punctuated with chimneys of all shapes and sizes. Sturdy red bricks adjourn pale stone accented by ornamental flourishes. Across the face of the house are countless windows in white wooden frames. I spot porches, a conservatory, and an odd copper dome wedged in on the side. It’s the type of estate that must be full of hidden doorways and secret passages, a sprawl of a mansion whose stairs creak and speak, while the windows rattle on the wind.
It’s not maudlin. It’s marvelous.
Lizzie becomes one of the youngest messengers at Bletchley Park, carrying missives to the different huts, which gives her time to agonize about her mother and come up with various ways to investigate her disappearance, while Jakob is focused on German ciphers. Then they receive a coded article in the mail, which Lizzie is sure is from their mother. For the first time, they begin to wonder if their mother’s disappearance could be related to Jakob’s codebreaking.
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| Bletchley Park |
This is a very appealing novel, which would be the perfect gift for the 10-13 year old whose parents loved The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, as well as for adults who enjoy middle grade fiction. The story is told in alternating chapters from Lizzie or Jakob’s perspective. I was surprised to find it was a collaboration: Ruta Sepetys is an award-winning author and I was unfamiliar with Steve Sheinkin but he has written a lot of history for young readers. I am guessing they created an outline together, then Ruta likely wrote the Lizzie chapters and Steve wrote the Jakob chapters. Some suspension of disbelief is required for Lizzie’s antics but that did not detract from my enjoyment. Not to mention, it is a lot more upbeat than Salt to the Sea and I Must Betray You, the last two books by Sepetys I read!
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Source: Library
This my 28th book for Marg's Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Those interested in nonfiction about Bletchley Park should check out the website I made for a class a few years ago. I was also excited to visit in 2022.
1 comment:
Thank you for the review - I've reserved it from the library - even though I have enough to read to last me months!
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