The Bletchley Riddle

In about June of 1940, we meet 14-year-old Lizzie Novis, who is in a difficult circumstance; her Polish born Jewis father died when she was young, her mother, who worked for the US embassy in Poland, is presumed dead, and her grandmother, who lives in Cleveland, is trying to get her to leave England. Lizzie doesn't want anything to do with her grandmother's posh life in the US, and suspects that her mother is still alive. She manages to evade Mr. Fleetwood, her grandmother's estate steward who is supposed to chaperone her to Ohio via ship, and goes to the address in London her older brother Jakob has given her. Jakob, a talented mathemetician, is working at Bletchley Park, and the address Lizzie has is a decoy. When she shows up there, Jakob has to come and retrieve her. He takes her to the Colonel at Bletchley, who doesn't give Lizzie a choice; if she has to stay with Jakob, she has to sign the Official Secrets Act, work as a messenger at Bletchley, and lay low. While this impedes her work finding her mother, she enjoys being at the top secret installation, and enjoys living with Jakob in his tiny room at the Shoulder of Mutton. Colin, the son of the owners of the inn, is a good source of information as well as a helpful ally. Jakob knows more than he has told Lizzie; his mother visited him, and left him a coded message; Lizzie is not telling Jakob that she has her mother's journal. Jakob is working on the Enigma machine with other cryptanalysts, and wonders if his mother is, in fact, working as a spy. The fact that an MI5 agent, Jarvis, is following him and asking questions, reinforces this view. Lizzie manages to befrienf Marion, who is one of the women working at Bletchley, and even manages to go to a US embassy party with one of her mother's coworkers, and tries to ask Ambassador Joseph Kennedy about her. She gets no information, and is angry when she finds that her grandmother has sent Fleetwood back to get her. She manages to flee through a clever ruse, and Jakob is suprised when she shows up. When the two talk about their mother and finally share what they know, they think she has left them a message that the need to decipher. It takes some time, and relies on a shared memory code involving goulash, but they eventually figure out a time, date, and location. When they get there, however, they don't find their mother. They do find out information about her, and realize that they have to keep what they know secret, just as all of the work they do at Bletchley must never be discussed. Due to her uncanny ability to notice things, Lizzie becomes an assistant to the Colonel, and doesn't have to go to Cleveland after all.

Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his younger sister Lizzie love riddles and puzzles. When their mother is listed as dead after the bombing in Poland, Lizzie questions if that is true. She ends up at Bletchley Park during the summer of 1940. The same place where some, like her brother, are working to break the Nazi's Enigma cipher and end the war. Then she receives coded messages she feels are from her mother. She tried to work with Jakob to break the code. All the time trying not to reveal the secret of what is happening at Bletchley Park.

What worked: Historical story based on a real place where cryptanalysts worked together to break the Enigma code. It wasn't until recently that their stories were told. Fascinating, mesmerizing this story sweeps readers away to 1940 England. The US wasn't involved in the war yet. There's more than puzzles and riddles in this story. There's intrigue, mystery, and one quirky heroine who refuses to let others stop her investigation into what really happened to her mother.

Lizzie is stubborn and persistent in her quest. Even when her American grandmother tries numerous times to ship her back to Ohio for her safety. Lizzie has other plans.

This story is told in two alternative POVs. Her brother as he works in secret at Bletchley Park and how frustrated he is with Lizzie for not listening to others. But later, he realizes that by working together, they can figure out the riddles left for them.

There are other characters shown. Like Alan Turing who was instrumental in finally breaking the Enigma cipher.

Great pacing. Also love the illustrations that show readers a glimpse of 1940 with photos of Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. Loved how the authors broke down one-way cryptanalysis looked for patterns in the cipher.

Intriguing details on how some tried to break the Nazi's Enigma cipher with a heroine that refuses to let others stop her determination to find the truth. Perfect for those who love WWII history and Ruta Sepetys's novels.