Review: The Girl from Bletchley Park

Title: The Girl from Bletchley Park

Author: Kathleen McGurl

Publisher: 3rd November 2021 by HQ 

Pages: 384 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: women’s fiction, historical fiction, WWII

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

Will love lead her to a devastating choice?

1942. Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country’s future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice – and Pam’s loyalty is pushed to its limits…

Present day. Julia is struggling to juggle her career, two children and a husband increasingly jealous of her success. Her brother presents her with the perfect distraction: forgotten photos of their grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park. Why did her grandmother never speak of her time there? The search for answers leads Julia to an incredible tale of betrayal and bravery – one that inspires some huge decisions of her own…

My Thoughts

The Girl from Bletchley Park is a combination of historical fiction with some mystery and romance. It’s a story that tells a tale of lies and betrayal through a dual time period narrative. I have read some other of Kathleen’s books and she can always be relied on to present an interesting tale. 

We are all losing the most interesting jobs that we will ever have.

This book is about the famous WWII Bletchley Park - quite a few books have been written about this of late. There is the historical tale during the war and then some eighty years later when the granddaughter discovers lost photos of her grandmother from this wartime period. Dual time narratives are always appealing (two stories) but once again, the historical tale I found to hold more interest for obvious reasons eg. facts about coding in Bletchley Park. Both stories do have a parallel theme running through them about trusting those closest to you. 

‘… do you remember how Grandma used to say no one was better at keeping secrets than her? I wonder if this was what she was referring to - that she’d kept her wartime role secret all those years?’

At times this story is a little slow and I had some frustration with the female leads in both timelines. It’s hard to put a finger on, but the romance/love story and the characters' actions I did not fully connect with. I would have preferred more about the fascinating history of Bletchley Park and less time on relationships. Admittedly, this would have been difficult for Kathleen to write as it was during Covid and she had to rely on online resources. 

The Girl from Bletchley Park will appeal to those who enjoy a dual timeline and the historical mystery that comes with it. Bletchley Park is always an attraction in recognising the many contributions of women to the war effort. 

It’s amazing what they achieved there. They reckon the work that went on at Bletchley Park had a huge impact on the outcome of the war. Imagine being a part of that!

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.