Wednesday 20 July 2022

Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park: by Molly Green (Titled Wartime at Bletchley Park outside UK)

The first in an inspiring new World War 2 historical fiction saga series (The Bletchley Park Girls, Book 1)

Reviewer's Choice

UK edition

US edition
1940s / WWII
England

"September 1939. London is in blackout, war has been declared, but Dulcie Treadwell can think only of American broadcaster, Glenn Reeves, who didn’t say goodbye before leaving for Berlin. Heartbroken, Dulcie is posted to Bletchley Park, where she must concentrate instead on cracking the German Enigma codes. The hours are long and the conditions tough, with little recognition from above. Until she breaks her first code…But when a spiteful act of jealousy leads to Dulcie’s brutal dismissal, her life is left in pieces once more. Is it too late for Dulcie to prove her innocence and keep the job she loves? And will her heart ever truly heal if she doesn’t hear from Glenn again…?"

Yes, this is another typical wartime romance with all the elements expected of this genre. Girl meets boy, boy disappears, presumably off to war, will boy return, will their love endure...? But this is why I so enjoy a Molly Green romantic novel, you know exactly what you are going to get - a beautifully written, curl-up-and-enjoy cosy romance and delightfully portrayed characters (yes even the baddies!) but with lots of unexpected elements that keep you wanting to know what happens next.

Our heroine, Dulcie, is a young journalist fed up with having only the dull events to report and dissatisfied that, although highly intelligent, she is only a woman so is regarded as not capable of handling anything with more meaty content.

Her life is to change when she meets Glenn, an American war correspondent, and then it changes again with the outbreak of war and her new employment as a code breaker at Bletchley Park.

She loves her new job, despite the frustrations and difficulties of code breaking, but there is someone stirring trouble and while there are triumphs for Dulcie, there are also bitter struggles. No spoilers of course... does she win through, does everything become right?

I was very slightly disappointed by the ending, but this is the first in a series so maybe there is more to come? Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, maybe the best of Ms Green's yet?

Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds 

© Mary Chapple
 e-version reviewed

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