62 pages • 2-hour read
The Bletchley Riddle
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Background
Authorial Context: Steve Sheinkin and Ruta Sepetys
The Bletchley Riddle was collaboratively written by Steve Sheinkin and Ruta Sepetys, both of whom are known for books with historical settings. Sheinkin usually writes nonfiction, with works such as Most Dangerous, Undefeated, Lincoln’s Grave Robbers, The Port Chicago 50, and Bomb. His titles have received a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, and a Sibert Medal and Honor. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award three times.
Sepetys is a New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. Born in America, she is the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee and expresses pride in her Baltic heritage. She received a Cross of the Knight of the Order by the Lithuanian President to honor her contributions to education and historical preservation. Her works have been published in over 60 countries and 40 languages. Between Shades of Gray is her most acclaimed novel and has been adapted into a graphic novel and a film, Ashes in the Snow. Out of the Easy, Salt to the Sea, The Fountains of Silence, and I Must Betray You have won or been shortlisted for more than 40 book prizes. A Carnegie Medal winner, Sepetys blends her creative career with broader cultural and political aims: She has been invited to NATO, the European Parliament, the United States Capitol, and other embassies worldwide to discuss her nuanced perspective on historical narratives.
The collaboration between the two authors in The Bletchley Riddle combines storytelling with historical accuracy, with the two authors each bringing their own familiarity in weaving historical tales and representing lesser-known truths of the past. The novel engages with a tense and well-known period of Britain’s history, but—aligning with Sepetys’s writing style—brings closer attention to the individual relationships and struggles occurring amid the broader political conflict.
Historical Context: The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is a period from July to October 1940, during which British forces defended England from air attacks by Nazi Germany. It overlaps with the Blitz, a series of large-scale night attacks that lasted from 1940 to 1941. After Germany invaded France, they sought to force Britain into peace settlement negotiations, which Britain refused. The British Royal Navy controlled the English Channel and North Sea, which left consistent air raids the most effective form of attack. Between the Battle and the Blitz, some 40,000 civilians in Britain were killed, and large amounts of residences and infrastructure in London were destroyed.
Amid these attacks, efforts were underway at Bletchley Park to crack German communication codes created by their Enigma cipher machine. This process plays a major part in The Bletchley Riddle. In reality, the code was eventually broken by Alan Turing, who worked with his fellow code-breaker Gordon Welchman to create the Bombe, a machine that significantly aided the code breakers’ work. Though the war would rage on for years following the summer of 1940, the events at Bletchley Park were crucial in reading German communications and undermining Nazi strategies, becoming a key turning point in the war.
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