"What do we do with people who speak German? We give them a job." This book is based on real life events at Bletchley Park during World War II, the centre of the German codebreakers, whose vital work saved countless lives and helped the Allies to defeat the Nazis.
The story revolves around Rose and Evie, along with a few other women and many interesting characters. Their lives were irrevocably altered through their work at Bletchley Park; whilst it is a historical fiction novel, this is a fascinating, immersive and beautifully written story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and Patricia Adrian for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Things I liked
It was historical fiction that wasn’t a duel timeline. I’m getting tired of duel timelines.

I had never heard of Bletchley Park and now that I have I want to read more

Things I didn’t like
Too many side characters and it confused and muddied up the story

Some side characters were so one-dimensional yet they got a good part of the story’s focus.

Some of the writing was just plain confusing.

Overall, I liked it but was often frustruated.

The Bletchley park women is interesting and a fast paced historical novel. I enjoyed this book but felt it was very similar to many others in the genre. Worth a read but not exceptional.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well-written interesting book. A little slow to start, but once I got into it I enjoyed it. Full of historical facts. Recommended.

When England declares war on Germany in 1939, the roles of women began to change. While their mothers were still intent on their daughters following in their footsteps by marrying and raising a family…the younger generation began to have different views. They wanted to do their part and sometimes their part came with consequences that allowed to see themselves in a different light and become the person they were destined to be. And then there was Bletchley Park.

Rose Wiley was happily engaged to a man who had just enlisted in the RAF. Her mother was breathing down her back to settle down and marry him. Her complete disregard for her daughters ambitions led to Rose calling her well connected aunt and landing a job at the Foreign Office. Under the pretense of being a typist…Rose becomes a German code breaker and a good one.

Evie Milton is a spoiled, rich girl whose life is governed by her parents and the family’s reputation. Her controlling father blackmails her into severing her ties with the man she loves. She’s also worried sick about her brother who has not been heard from since Dunkirk. To escape the cage she’s been placed in, she calls in a favor and also finds herself at Bletchley, working along side of Rose.

Together along with Lucy…the other woman in the office, they set out to prove themselves and their capabilities to men who think women have place in a war room. All the same, their work must remain a secret which puts strains on life away from Bletchley but it opens their eyes to their own potential.

I loved this story and the history lesson that came with it. Fans of WWII fiction will definitely enjoy this story as it brings to the page just one of many roles women fulfilled during the war. It’s an important story to tell.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and Patricia Adrian for access to this gem of a story!

Princess Fuzzypants here: The men have been rescued from Dunkirk. Europe is in the grip of the Nazis and Britain girds for the Battle of its life.
In a small rural town called Bletchley, some of the most important work of the war will be done. If the British can decrypt the Nazi messages, lives can be saved. It is desperate and vital work but not everyone in the military or government has appreciated fully what it could mean to the course of the war.

Naturally a certain number of the workers come from the halls of academia but the job requires a special skill set that education alone does not guarantee. So from backgrounds that could not be any more dissimilar, young women arrive to solve the puzzles. There is a brilliant farm girl, Rose, who is under intense pressure to conform to the role that has been decided for her since birth- that of a compliant wife and daughter. Eve, poor little rich girl with an insufferable and powerful father, does not want to the life fate has dictated and finds her escape at Bletchley too.
Together with Lucy and Nell, again two very different women, they forge a bond and take on the male hierarchy that tells them they cannot when they know they can.

It will be a frustrating battle, with many setbacks, but they understand how much they can contribute and what that will mean to the final victory. Against misogynistic bias, they take chances but they prevail. Each on a different path, they will discover a new and groundbreaking future. The book reminds the reader how very far women have come. It was not easy breaking out of a mould that had been the norm. But they did succeed and they are inspirations. While the characters are fictional, there is no doubt that there were many like them in the ranks of Bletchley and elsewhere. We owe them a lot.

Five purrs and two paws up.

Rose is keen to do something more for the war effort than work on her family’s farm, and Evie is desperate to escape her controlling father. Both girls end up working in the German Air Section of Bletchley Park, decoding the Luftwaffe radio transmissions to forestall attacks.

The Bletchley Women is a delightful story, showing how women were just as important as men in the fight to decrypt German messages. How true to life Rose and Evie are is something I can’t comment on, but they make a good pair, with very different personalities and abilities. Rose could at times be a little irritating, with her toing and froing over returning to David, but overall a very enjoyable story.

I have read a lot of books set in WW2 and a few based at Bletchley - this was one of the reasons why I wanted to read this. I love the intrigue behind Bletchley and how for many years we didn't know of its importance and now we have a fabulous base to create great stories weaved around this mystery. Even though the story was a little slow to start and maybe was too quickly finished with some characters stories left untold I still enjoyed the timelines of Rose and Evie. It was very much a story of people coming together for the good, it didn't matter of your background or social standing you were there to do a job, but sometimes your standing did help!

As the war rages on women are finding that their lives may not be stuck in groove intended for them. Evie is , the spoilt debutante knows that she can only push her father so far although the thought of being like her mother, doing 'good works' stifles her. Rose Wiley expected to marry her fiancé David & work on the farm & in David's shop but when David decides to join the RAF she decides she can't bear to be stuck on the farm & through her Aunt Mavis finds herself spirited away to a mysterious place in the country where she has to sign the Official Secrets Act & because she knows German she is placed in an office decoding enemy messages. Evie also has a good knowledge of German & along with Lucy they work towards being an important part of winning the war.

This was an enjoyable read set in a time & place I have always been interested in. The characters were a predictable but interesting mix. Of the three Lucy was the one I liked best & would have liked to know more about her as the other two were rather stereo types. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Evie and Rose are from very different backgrounds and they’re both far from the expectations of home as they work together at Bletchley Park as decoders.

Their lives at Bletchley Park make them realise that they don’t have to settle for what their families expect of them.

This is a great historical novel I was ex acting more details about life at Bletchley but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I am a fan of books set during WWII. This one focused on women who worked at Bletchley Park as decoders. The two main characters, Rose and Evie, are very different with varied backgrounds yet they are similar in that they want something different for their lives. The characters are well developed and their willingness to help end the war while keeping their efforts a secret from their family. This is another good addition to historical fiction books that occur during this time period.

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

In many ways I found this quite a difficult book to read, as it handles the issue of women's status in the early twentieth century very well. Evie is a socialite whilst Rose is an ordinary lass, engaged to a pilot. Together with Lucy they find themselves at Bletchley Park, thanks to their ability to speak German. However, because the work is top secret, decoding Luftwaffe messages as they are intercepted, they cannot tell their families what they are doing.

Evie is there to escape her miserable life with her father, who did not approve of her choice of lover. Rose is torn, wanting to be with her fiance but also wanting to contribute through her work to his safety, because she is very good at what she does.

The women are ignored and treated badly because they are women - Henry in the office does not approve of any woman working and does not believe they can do a good job. As was very much the norm then, he will take credit for any ideas they put forward. Rose's mother does not understand why her daughter has to be a typist miles from home, when her fiance is stationed near to home and she could see more of him.

The result is a fascinating peek into life for women at that time, which would not change for pretty much the next thirty years. Women had so much to contribute, but the blinkered view of men held them back as they were downtrodden, kept in the home and told their only aim in life should be to snare and keep a husband.

And its a brilliant story too in its own right. Fishnets!! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun story that followed two women from completely different backgrounds as they stepped up to do their part for the war effort. While they both had different motivations for joining the effort, they were able to unite for a common goal and show that women are also useful in war time. I truly invested in these characters.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this story. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to all involved in my chance to read this book

Sadly I found it really slow and unbelievable - almost as if the author had little idea of British aristocracy and how it worked in the times of WW2 - its before my time but I felt that it didn't ring true. Equally the life of the other girl (the commoner what a term!) also seemed to stretch credibility.

I enjoy books set around the world of Bletchley Park usually but this one wasn't for me.
I struggled to get into the book and didn't enjoy reading it.

However from the reviews others did not find this and this goes to show we are all different and enjoy different styles of writing.

This book was fantastic. I had read other books about the work that occurred at Bletchley but this one had a different feel to it. The book swept me up into the story immediately and I couldn’t put it down. Fantastic read!

Two English women, one born as part of the aristocracy and one a commoner, life was pretty much mapped out for them until war interferes and they become a part of the Bletchley decoding team. Loved the historical part of this story, I learned so much.. So many more people involved in war, not just the front line fighters.

Another Bletchley Park story but I can’t get enough of them. This is a story of three very different women’s adventures during WWII. Rose acquired an exciting job at Bletchley Park but should she continue the work or should she remain what was considered the nice respectable girl who was only good for marriage. An interesting story of life during the war years.

The Bletchley Women by Patricia Adrian was a great Historical novel based at the beginning of the 1940's during till the WW2. This is the first book I have read from Patricia and I loved it especially as it was told by two women who are from all different backgrounds Rose and Evie.

Evie Milton, is from a wealthy family, and has been too many fancy balls and society parties and her family has servants and maids etc to do everything for her. She is not used to doing things for herself or on her own, someone is always there for her. Where Rose, comes from a family of farmers and has to work for everything, she is engaged to David, an RAF pilot. Evie and Rose both speak German and they are secretly whisked off to Bletchley Park to decode messages from the ‘Luftwaffe’ they have never met before, neither of them know what they are capable of or how much they are needed and are going to contribute to save many lives in the WW2. They both have to sign an Agreement of Secret Service and they are not allowed to tell anyone including their families what they are doing. They become very close and form a deep bond with each other. They need to work closely so both of them survive.

Excellent book. i loved it once I got over the first few chapters....which I did find slow at first. So, stick with it.

Big thank you to Patricia Adrian, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an advance review copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this group of women decoders during WWII. This is another example of true patriotism during a horrible time in history!

My thanks to Netgalle and One More Chapter for this advanced readers copy. This book released March 10, 2022.

I sadly found this title very disappointing. I found the main characters to be wishy-washy (Rose) and spoilt (Evie). I didn't warm to either of them.

I found some of the storylines to be far fetched such as Rose's mother signing her up to the Land Girls when she was already in the services and the fact she wasn't interviewed before giving a position. All other books I have read have met the Land Girls and tested their health etc. before their position was confirmed. Evie's relationship with some of the higher people at Bletchley again seemed far-fetched that she could simply click her fingers and get her way. Equally finding her brother and his girlfriend seemed to happen so very easily.

I've read many fiction books set at Bletchley and sadly this wasn't one I would recommend to others.