The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

As this story opens Lizzie boarding a ship bound for the USA - she is being sent to stay with her wealthy grandmother. Trouble is Lizzie has NO intention of taking this trip. Her mother is missing and Lizzie needs to stay in England and find her. Yes there is a war unfolding and yes it might be dangerous but Lizzie knows her mother is not dead, as she has been told, and that she needs to find her brother and then solve the mystery of her mothers disappearance. The opening scene where she tricks her chaperone and gets off the boat would be a fabulous way to introduce this book to your library group. 

Lizzie has such a cheeky and distinctive voice in this story which is told with alternating voices. I Ioved the scene where Lizzie 'tricks' the chaperone for the second time and also her unfolding relationship with Colin - son of the innkeeper. 

You can 'hear' Lizzie in these three quotes:

I prefer being straightforward. My older brother, Jakob, used to be straightforward. Before Willa disappeared, that is. Willa is our mother. Killed in a bomb blast, they told us. A falsity I refuse to accept. I no longer refer to her as Mother because she’s not currently here to “mother” me. So it’s easier, and hurts less, to call her by her first name. Precocious? Probably. Willa is American. From a posh place called Cleveland. Some say that explains why I’m so straightforward, because I’m half American. They say the word “American” as if it’s scandalous. I love that. Willa loved it too.

“I don’t know what’s being done here, sir. But from the look of the wallpaper, this room has not long been a war office. From the annoyance in your tone, you are not welcoming visitors this evening. My apologies for that. I’d be grateful if you could provide a bit more information or clues to solve the puzzle,” I reply.

“Perfection? But perfection is boring and forgettable. It’s the imperfections that I find interesting.” “Goodness, you sound so adult. Are you a philosopher, Elizabeth?” “I prefer Lizzie, if that’s all right with you. And heavens no, I’m not a philosopher. I just have the awful habit of speaking whatever pops into my head. I think it’s because I’m half American.”

And here is the voice of Jakob:

Am I in charge of her now? No, I can’t be. I’ve got work to do. More important work than I ever imagined doing. There’s no way I can look after Lizzie at the same time. I can’t even talk to her. Can’t answer the storm of questions I know is coming. I wish I could just turn to her and say, “Look, Lizzie, I’m a cryptanalyst. A code breaker. It’s all very hush-hush.” Sounds ridiculous, I know. A line from a bad play. But the thing is, if I told her the truth, how I got into all of this, she’d accuse me of exactly that—imagining myself in some far-fetched spy drama.

The Bletchley Riddle has almost 400 pages and 94 chapters - but the action just races along. I found myself reading this book deep into the night and again early the next morning. I highly recommend this one for readers aged 10+.

Publisher blurb: It is the summer of 1940. The world is at war. These days, you don’t know who you can trust or who might be a secret spy… Maths whizz Jakob Novis has been recruited to the secret codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park. As Jakob works to crack the Nazi’s Enigma cipher, his younger sister Lizzie is busy on an undercover mission of her own: to find their mother. Filled with codes to decipher and mysteries to unravel, this is the unputdownable historical adventure that will have you on the edge of your seats.

Take a look at the official trailer. 

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. Kirkus

In a compelling mystery, written by two award-winning authors, and told in two voices, the dark cloud of their mom’s disappearance hangs over vivid, well-researched depictions of the Bletchley Park code-breaking operation. The story incorporates many of the significant, real-life, historic heroes who, together, arguably shortened WWII by years. It also depicts life in London at the onset of the war. It’s topped off perfectly with a sweet dash of adolescent crushing. A book and a hug

It was good to know a little about the circumstances of this story prior to reading The Bletchley Riddle. I had already read I Spy: A Bletchley Park Mystery by Rhian Tracey and seen the movie The Imitation Game an Oscar-nominated movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley from 2015 and also the television series The Bletchley Circle. I have now discovered the I Spy is the first book in a trilogy - Book 1: I, Spy: A Bletchley Park Mystery (2023) Book 2: Hide and Seek: A Bletchley Park Mystery (2024) Book 3: Wink, Murder: a Bletchley Park Mystery (2025). I am not sure if I have seen the other movie Enigma staring Kate Winslet from 2001. 

It is amazing and somewhat exciting to think about the work of code breakers - even though the circumstances in this story are based on real life and of course this is about life and death for thousands of innocent citizens during World War II. The codes themselves were so complex it seems amazing that they were ever cracked. Those men and women who worked at Bletchley had such brilliant minds and amazing perseverance. 

Image source: Bletchley Park

This book is a perfect blend of adventure, characters you come to care deeply about and real events. Here are two quotes about the work at Bletchley: 

The work undertaken at Bletchley was extremely secret, with staff forbidden from discussing their roles with anyone outside the park – even their own families. The need for secrecy was so great that some Bletchley veterans never revealed the true nature of their wartime service, even decades later.

Work at Bletchley Park began in the Mansion and its outbuildings, with a staff of around 150 people. As more and more people arrived to join the codebreaking operations, the various sections began to move into large pre-fabricated wooden huts set up on the lawns of the Park. For security reasons, the various sections were known only by their hut numbers. The first operational break into Enigma came around the 23 January 1940, when the team working under Dilly Knox, with the mathematicians John Jeffreys, Peter Twinn and Alan Turing, unravelled the German Army administrative key that became known at Bletchley Park as ‘The Green’. Encouraged by this success, the Codebreakers managed to crack the ‘Red’ key used by the Luftwaffe (German air force). In addition to German codes, Italian and later Japanese systems were also broken. Source Bletchley Park

Further Reading

History Tools: Uncovering the Enigma: The Untold Story of Bletchley Park‘s Codebreaking Triumphs

Visiting Bletchley Park - this site contains a wealth of information - well worth a deep dive

History Learning

Warfare History Network

Companion book:

Max in the House of Spies

The voice of Lizzie also reminded me of this book:

Faceles

In her review Ms Yingling mentions this book as another title to explore about the code breakers of WWII.

Read more on the author web page

You could use The Bletchley Riddle as a way to talk with your students about writing effective descriptions - here are a couple of terrific examples:

The man looks Jakob up and down and so do I. He’s taller than I remember but still has a boyish face. His trousers and jacket are wrinkled. Tie poorly knotted. Faint gray crescents ring his tired brown eyes, and his bedraggled curls are longer than usual. Has he been sleeping on the street?

A tall, narrow figure in a trench coat and hat stands alone on the moonlit platform. He starts toward us with the awkward gait of a marionette. He inhales on his cigarette, and the glowing tip illuminates his face. Something about him resembles my old doll with the smashed glass eye, or a curious illustration from a medical encyclopedia. I like him instantly.

A man in a tweed suit stands alone and sock-footed in the grass. His eyes are closed and his face lifts toward the sun. He wears an apricot bow tie which, by my estimation, makes him very approachable.