Review: The Bletchley Riddle
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin Viking Press (imprint of Penguin), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judy Greenblatt Buy at Bookshop.org The time is 1939, the place England. Jakob, age 19, has been recruited from Cambridge to work as a code breaker at Bletchley Park, while his 14-year-old sister Lizzie is to go to their grandmother in Cleveland, Ohio. Their father is dead, and their mother Willa has supposedly died while working in Poland in the early days of the German invasion. Lizzie, determined to stay in England and find answers to the questions about her mother’s death, is soon working as a messenger at Bletchley Park. The drama builds, plots and subplots emerge as Jakob and Lizzie tell their stories in separate chapters. The stories in this rich historical novel are beautifully and clearly told. The tension that builds in 1939 England is palpable, but the authors manage to write with humor. The characters are well-rounded. Lizzie and Jakob, thei...