Member Reviews
Good story about a young woman who makes her way out of Germany with 2 children to England where she trains for working at BP.
With Wartime Wishes at Bletchley Park, author Molly Green once again illustrates how literature can enhance and bring to life historical events to make them more poignant, and the reader more empathetic to the plight of those experiencing those events.
The story of Maddie's escape from Germany with the young twins whom she has been teaching is intense and heart-wrenching, giving human faces to the many who made similar journeys prior to the second world war. I found myself almost holding my breath as I turned the pages, worried for her and her charges as they barely make it out of the clutches of the Nazis, with the help of a handsome British man and many others along the way.
But Maddie's story doesn't end there; her recruitment into top=secret work for the war effort is fascinating, and the things she experiences up to and including the bombing of London, bring the war to life in a way history books never can. Add to that an intense and sudden romance that faces various challenges, and a difficult mother/daughter relationship, and the book has all of the elements needed to keep the reader riveted from start to finish.
With this book, Green has maintained the excellence with which she presented the first two books in the Bletchley Park Girls series, and fans will not be disappointed. The characters are multi-faceted and sympathetic, the settings are described with a depth that makes you feel you are there, and the storyline is one that is well-researched and sweeps you along to the very end.
Molly Green's third novel which centres on the lives and loves of those men and women engaged in top secret war work at Bletchley Park. For me it had further significance as it dealt with the importance of amateur radio in the war effort. As a Class 'A' Licence holder for over 50 years, I too had to gain proficiency in Morse Code to get my ticket, in a similar way to our heroine Madeleine Hamilton. Maddie as she is sometimes called was in Germany, teaching English to twins Erich and Lotte just before the start of WW2. Things became unsettling when her host family started to experience anti-semitism as a result of propaganda from the Nazis. The Weinbergs decided it would be safer to get Erich and Lotte out of Germany and to England, hoping Maddie would act as their guardian until the twins were united with their UK relatives. It was in the process of transporting the children that Maddie came acoss a man she was instantly attracted to and so started a very entangled on off romance. Madeleine's wartime career took off when she was personally recommended for a position at Bletchley Park. Her skill sets were ideal, an excellent knowledge of German and a slightly rustier proficiency with Morse Code under the tutelage of her radio ham father.
I really enjoyed the novel but got a little frustrated with Madeleine's illogical stance over her beau. She takes such a moral high ground without once considering her own somewhat sullied history. Anyway, if you are a fan of a 'will she, won't she' actually ask her beau about his past, then this is a novel for you.