Ruta Sepetys’s latest book, The Bletchley Riddle, is a middle grade historical fiction written with Steve Sheinkin. The cover caught my eye, but the description hooked me even further.
It’s summer 1940 and fourteen-year-old Lizzie Novis has found herself in a quandry. Her grandmother is determined to ship Lizzie from London back to Ohio to live with her, but Lizzie has other plans and believes her nineteen-year-old brother Jakob can help her. They have a shared love of puzzles and riddles, something that Lizzie believes is the key to her current problem.
Jakob is working at Bletchley Park, one of Britain’s codebreaking factories. He is currently working to crack Germany’s Enigma cipher, which isn’t going well. When he is summoned to pick up Lizzie, Jakob is not pleased. When he discovers that Lizzie will also be working at Bletchley Park, he is even more concerned as Lizzie isn’t one to follow rules and the Official Secrets Act binds everyone at Bletchley. Jakob is right to be concerned as Lizzie is determined to solve her own problem: the disappearance of their mother. They have been told that their mother died in Poland, but that story doesn’t seem believable to her at all. When codes and messages start arriving addressed to Jakob and Lizzie, she actively begins searching. Add in a mysterious investigator who is threatening Jakob and Lizzie and her hackles are up. Someone isn’t telling the truth and Lizzie isn’t having any of that. Jakob and Lizzie soon start deciphering codes at work and outside of work as they race to find answers.
What hooked me is that The Bletchley Riddle is told from both Jakob and Lizzie’s points of view. Having dual points of view showcases the emotions each character is feeling as well as their motivations for behaving the way they do. Given the differences in age, gender, and interests between the two characters and this book certainly lends itself relatable and readable to readers of all types! This is one title that I would love to see made into a series! The ending certainly leads itself that way.
This title is also available in large print and as a Playaway audiobook.