
(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Author Jan Slimming published the book “Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park” in 2021 (March). This is Ms. Slimming’s first publication and focuses on her mother.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. This is the story of Daisy Lawrence and her experiences at Bletchley Park during WWII.
The story begins before the war and gives background information on Lawrence. The focus then shifts to her wartime experiences. It finishes up with the troubles Lawrence had after the war. She had to sign the Official Secrets Act to work at Bletchley. The restrictions placed upon her proved to be detrimental to her mental health.
Lawrence had become engaged early in the war. Some of the book follows the plight of her fiancee after he became a POW after the fall of Singapore. The later part of the book tells of her life in the years after the war.
While I enjoyed the 9.5+ hours I spent reading this 352-page WWII history. I have read and listened to podcasts about Bletchley Park. This book gave more everyday details than the other sources. I like the selected cover art. I give this book a 5 out of 5.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis)
If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
- The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 510 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II-era in history.
- The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
- The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII.