The Secrets of Latimer House is the story of a secret operation within Britain’s war effort to defeat the Nazi takeover of Europe. One of other such secret installations throughout small villages in Britain where interrogations of German POW’s took place, and war strategy was planned, all under the noses of the British people. Military personnel and every day people were called upon to do much more than plant victory gardens, be air raid wardens, and endure the Blitz to their part in the war effort. Such is the story of Latimer House.

Told through the voices of three young women, all from very different backgrounds, who find themselves eager for various reasons to do their part to save their country from German occupation. From the “gentry” is heiress Evelyn Brooke-Edwards, from the village where Latimer House is located is Betty Connors, and German ex-pat Judith Stern all converge at Latimer House bringing different abilities to offer to the War Office.

This novel shows yet another side of just how all encompassing was Britain’s fight against Hitler.

This is a book that I just couldn’t put down, a definite page turner. I really enjoyed the characters and to discover that there was such a facility during the war made it all the more interesting. Anyone who enjoys novels set during the Second World War couldn’t fail to enjoy this. Thoroughly recommended.

An exhilarating tale of three young women ‘doing their bit’ for Britain during the second world war.

Coming from all walks of life, Betty, Judith and Evelyn find themselves on a level playing field as they begin work in Latimer House where the work is highly confidential and completely unknow between departments and especially to outsiders. Each young woman has hopes and dreams for the future, but first – and more immediate – they want to do all they can to help stop the Nazis and help Britain and the Allies win the war.

Latimer House, like Bletchley Park, was bursting with secrets during wartime completely unknown to the greater population, especially those who lived in the area and this is a most intriguing and fascinating tale, based on facts but with fictional characters. Captivating and intriguing, this is a novel which pulled me in from the very beginning. While Jules Wake is an author new to me, I shall certainly be looking out for her work in future. This is a beautifully spun tale, skilfully written and enthralling to the very end by which everything is neatly finished off, something I really appreciate in any novel. Truly enchanting and, on a more serious note, food for thought resulting in total admiration for a generation who put King and Country before themselves; worth pondering on in today’s often selfish society. A sparkling five star read and one I’m happy to recommend.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Rachel Gilbey for my spot on this tour; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Set during world war two this is the beautiful story of friendship, coming together and is full of hope. Evelyn, Betty and Judith are allnfrom different backgrounds but work togther during the difficult times. With sad times, happy times and a dash of romance this really is a fantastic read. I enjoyed the storyline, loved the characters and woukd recommend this to anybody who enjoys this time era.

This is a fascinating historical story about the secrets of ‘M room’ which helped the Allies win World War II. Brilliantly researched the history of the house and the secret operation was intriguing and kept me gripped from the very beginning. Each of the three main characters were beautifully written and I loved how we got to know each of them - their hopes and fears and how they each got to Latimer House and what it meant to them. The strength of their friendship was wonderful to read about.

The Secrets of Latimer House is a heart warming story of friendship, love and resilience during WWII. Based on facts it is well researched and Jules Wake brings her characters to life so you live their lives with them.

My one criticism is that the formula of debutante, working class girl and quiet troubled girl thrown together in extreme circumstances and becoming best friends has been used in so many novels for this period.

I was given a copy of The Secrets of Latimer House by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Loved this one, it was interesting and different from the usual World War Two. This book dealt with the “other side” of the war, the secret Sid elf spy’s and German prisoners of war. Very historical but, so good. I devoured this one very quickly as I found I didn’t want to put it done. More please from this author. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

It's 1943, and with the Second World War in full swing, three very different girls - Evelyn, Judith and Betty - find themselves thrown together at Latimer House, a secret Government facility in the Buckinghamshire countryside. There they are involved in interrogating important Nazi prisoners of war, one of whom is Evelyn's former fiancé. Can the three friends help each other cope with all that the work throws at them?

The Secrets of Latimer House is a fascinating and engrossing story, made all the better because it is based on the very real work undertaken during the war. The three main characters are well created and their behaviour and attitude make them believable and engaging and help the story flow.

A very different style and story to Jules Wake's usual books, but it is just as good. Thoroughly enjoyable and a real page turner. Brilliant!

Three young ladies end up thrust together in a room in a large house in Buckinghamshire - Latimer House - taken over by the SOE during WW2. Wealthy educated Evelyn, Jewish refugee Judith, and Betty all had unique talents, for instance interrogating newly arrived German captured POW's., and listening in to their rooms which were bugged. The most interesting part of their life in the house was that they could not tell each other what their roles were!

Of course, all three girls also have very different romantic relationships which are took away descriptions of their valuable work, but all in all immensely readable.

Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins One More Chapter for the chance to read and review.

Romance set in a secret HQ during World War 2.

Is this a Mills & Boon? Quite fun, but totally predictable - perhaps good as a beach read?!

Thank you to the publisher for inviting me to read this book.

Wow, I thought this was a really, really good read. I like historical fiction and loved that this was set in the UK. The author has wrote a very enjoyable book here. Evelyn, Judith and Betty meet when they are sent to Latimer House to work. I thought the main characters were very likeable, with each having a good back history. They share a room and as time passes a friendship forms between them. I loved the authors writing style and that the story was told through the different characters. .The story flowed really well and was such a pleasure to read. I’ve not read many WW2 UK set books and it was a lovely change to read this one. I found this to be very realistic and believable read, which I devoured in just over a day. For me, the author has created the three main characters and bought them vividly to life through her writing. I could picture the house, nearby villages and the characters in my mind when reading. The book is about friendships, trust, hope and never giving up when times are hard. I particularly enjoyed reading about Evelyn, Judith and Betty's work during war time and how this affected them. A lovely, uplifting and poignant read at times and one I would recommend.

I read a lot of WWII historical fiction, and I really liked this book. Three girls are posted to Latimer House in different capacities. They’re told it’s a distribution facility, because it turns out to be a place where German POWs are interrogated. Women who speak German are valuable, because the prisoners take them for granted. Evelyn is an upper class girl who talks directly to the POWs, Judith is a Jewish girl who escaped Germany and listens in to the prisoner’s bugged bunks, and Betty is a local girl who works as an analyst. The three become close, but the work has to remain a secret. I recommend this book if you like home front WWII historical fiction, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction set in England during world war two.
Based on true events, Latimer House was where top ranking prisoners of war
were taken in order to be interrogated to find out any useful information.
Any thing they found out could successfully aid in helping us overcome the enemy & bring an end to the war.
They got the most useful information from bugging the mens cells as they would talk between each other & reveal things that could help the war effort.
Latimer House was so secret the villages & even some of the staff within the walls were not aware of what went on.
They let it be known that it was a distribution centre for goods which worked really well.
The main three characters were three very different women who came from various backgrounds ranging from the highest to the lowest in class.
A really good story with strong female characters pulling together through adversity.
Well written interesting story line & a really enjoyable read.

Wealthy Oxford educated Evelyn, Jewish refugee Judith, and Betty would never had met were it not for their unique talents which don't become fully apparent to anyone, including themselves until they are assigned to Latimer House in the British countryside to assist in the war effort. The House is used as a debriefing site for newly arrived German POWS. Evelyn's an ace interrogator and she's got German as a result not only of her studies but also her life before the War. Judith knows technical terms and Betty, well she might be the most surprising one of all. All three woman also have very different romantic relationships which are integrated well into the story. If I have a quibble it's that Bert is written too broadly. It's well written and engaging story with a good twist that will pull at the heartstrings. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I really enjoyed this and recommend for fans of historical fiction. Don't miss the afterword.

The three women, Evelyn, Betty, and Judith have very different backgrounds and different jobs at Latimer House. They are not allowed to talk about what they do despite working at the same place. The women form a friendship and slowly begin to trust each other and help each other when each needs it the most.

While this is a story that happened in WWII, it is much more a story of friendships, love, and learning to accept yourself. Each woman has baggage from their past that they must overcome to become stronger. I love this type of story. I also loved the writing style. Its the style that you can picture what is going on. When you look up from the book, you are surprised you are not in England.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy stories of triumph with a background of WWII history.

What a wonderful read of this historical fiction. I could not put the book down!! Three very different women came together and formed a magical friendship through WW2 while working in a secret location Latimer House in Buckinghamshire. This is based on a true story where thousands of German prisoners passed through Latimer House.
Betty was a farm girl, Evelyn from a wealthy background and Judith a German Jew who came from totally different backgrounds and were very different types of women who were thrown together during this time and shared a room at Latimer House.
I just loved this book!

I absolutely adored this. From the first chapter, I was hooked. Each character was well developed and has their own trauma, anxieties and hope. There is something that works so well between the three women, Evelyn, Betty and Judith, their friendship exceeds the limits of the pages of this book. They felt real and raw and human. Over the course of this novel, we learn about their pasts and futures as they work through the war and everything that is thrown at them. There wasn't a single moment during this book where I was bored, by the end of it I was almost disappointed with how quickly I had finished it. Wake has a talent for crafting stories and characters that feel honest and evoke such strong emotions from the reader. A brilliant Historical Fiction that was an absolute joy to read.

Latimer House really provides a backdrop to several romances Three women from very different backgrounds find themselves working and sharing a room together at Latimer House, a secret location where prisoners of war are interviewed prior to being sent to interment camps. The story features society heiress, Evelyn, farm girl Betty and German Jewish ex-pat Judith who become friends as they are joined together in WW2 at the Latimer House to work in secret in Buckinghamshire. All three women have very unique backgrounds, are strong and intelligent, and skilled at what they do. Historical Fiction is my favorite genre, WWI and WWII in particular, so this book was another good novel for me. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, One More Chapter, Harper Collins UK, and Edelweiss for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Latimer House, a country estate in Buckinghamshire, becomes a base to hold high ranking Nazi POWs during WWII while they are interrogated. Three women are brought together by the top secret work undertaken here. Heiress Evelyn Brooke-Edwards, with her fluency in German, is a skilled interrogator. Local girl Betty Connors is initially brought in as a typist, but her analytical skills soon have her working on much more important things. Judith Stern, a German Jew who escaped Nazi Germany after Kristallnacht, listens in on the conversations between the POWs for any useful information. The three women soon become fast friends despite their different personalities and backgrounds as they each work through their own trials.

The story behind ‘M Room’ was new information to me and I really enjoyed getting to learn about this endeavor that was so important to the war effort. It was fascinating to learn about this undertaking that was conducted under such high secrecy and the first thing I did when I finished reading this book was to look up the topic for more information because I was so curious about it! The three main characters in this book, Evelyn, Judith and Betty were interesting and their easy camaraderie despite coming from such different situations was wonderful to see as they supported each other through tough times. The author has done a great job with the narration and POVs for all of them and I liked how the plot explored how the war affected each of the characters albeit in very different ways and the realistic feel to the story. The book is clearly very well researched as shown in several of Evelyn’s POVs about how the POWs were handled.

The initial chapters of this book reminded me a lot of The Rose Code, which I really enjoyed reading earlier this year, so I was hoping that this would be just as good. However, this wasn’t remotely as exciting as the blurb implies. The work at Latimer House becomes more or less a backdrop as the relationships of the three characters take focus, and while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t what I was expecting from a WWII novel. The fact is that, when I pick up this kind of book, it’s because I’m interested in the historical context and all the work that went in behind the scenes to win the war – and there was very little of that. At the very least, I expected that the pace would pick up at some point, or a major twist in the plot, but it was far too sedate.

Overall, while this was an interesting read, it didn’t really live up to the synopsis. Unfortunately, after all the amazing WWII books I’ve read so far, this kind of falls short despite being an easy read. I think though, that this book would be a good choice for anyone new to the genre and time period. This was the first novel by this author I’ve read and I’m looking forward to checking out their other works as well.

I absolutely loved spending time with Evelyn, Betty and Judith. They make great chums and I really cared about each of them having a happy ending. They have essential skills that help Britain win the war and are great characters. Each have their individual battles to fight and rewards to gain. I cheered when the bad men in their lives got socked in the jaw!