The Bletchley Riddle

The Bletchley Riddle is a novel based on secrets. It is not only set during the real, top-secret efforts by the British to crack the German Enigma code, it also concerns a family that communicates largely through codes themselves. They each have different secrets and struggle to navigate their taut familial dynamics because of this. Through their experiences, the novel explores the burden of secrets.

Jakob proudly admits in the first chapter that he is dedicated to learning secrets, but his sister soon after expresses that their relationship has suffered because of his own detachment, lack of communication, and mysterious job that restricts him from being more honest with her. Lizzie thinks, “I prefer being straightforward. My older brother, Jakob, used to be straightforward. Before Willa disappeared, that is. Willa is our mother. Killed in a bomb blast, they told us. A falsity I refuse to accept” (11). This demonstrates how her response to emotional strain has been to be forthcoming; meanwhile, Jakob has reacted by withdrawing and avoiding the facts about Willa’s disappearance that call the story of her death into question. As a result, he no longer understands his sister, and she likewise struggles to admit that she no longer understands him. She considers, “Could it be possible that I don’t really know my brother? But what is there to know?” (33), but she dismisses this, instead determining to get to the bottom of why he’s been so secretive.

While Lizzie is correct that their strained relationship is not wholly because of the Official Secrets Act binding Jakob to silence—it is instead also due to his own emotional repression and detachment—she does come to admit that there was validity in his position. As she discovers more about Bletchley Park through her own observations, she is offered more responsibility by the Colonel and thus bound to the same secrecy as her brother. This in turn impacts her budding relationship with Colin, whose family owns the inn she’s staying at. When he confesses his feelings for her, she thinks, “Colin’s always so honest. I wish I could tell him about everything I’ve seen […] Marion and Jakob must see it all too. But the Secrets Act prohibits us from talking about it” (201). Lizzie is maturing and beginning to understand that Jakob may be dealing with things or limited by structures she doesn’t yet fully grasp.

By the end of the novel, Jakob’s musings on his and his mother’s actions also bring to light how secrets sometimes mean that people’s valuable stories and acts of heroism are lost to history. When he learns from fellow code breakers Welchman and Turing that his mother was spotted helping an evacuation in Poland, he realizes that her good deeds will never come to light—precisely because her actions required secrecy at all costs. The burden of secrets is thus complex and unresolved, especially because the complexity and lack of resolution during wartime is so prevalent.