I randomly came across this and had to request it because I have a long-standing fascination with Bletchley Park and particularly with the women who worked there during WWII. This novel is about two young women who work at Bletchley - Rose, a farm girl who is looking for ways to be closer to where her fiance is meant to be stationed after he finishes RAF training, and Evie, who is from an extremely wealthy family but whose father has total control over her life and has essentially blackmailed her to end a romantic relationship in London and come home. It's interesting to see the two young women's lives compared, both before and during their time at Bletchley, but I really wanted to know more about both characters. I wish the novel had been a bit longer and a bit meatier, but I did like the structure and I appreciated that it addressed classism and sexism in England during WWII generally and at Bletchley specifically.

The Bletchley Women is a historical fiction dealing with the women of Bletchley Park. I am thrilled that there is so much more being told about WW2 and those that worked to win the war against the Germans.

This story gives the reader a glimpse into the different people that worked at Bletchley. Not all were military. Not all were men. Not all were women assigned to different military services. Not all were rich. Not all were educated. What they all were, was people that came together to make a difference.

The Bletchley Women really got me thinking. I hadn't thought about the challenges of women working along side men. I never thought that men would try to destroy women, risking the safety of their country. Egos were more delicate than the lives of others.

The story opened my eyes to the challenges of the Secrets Act. Rose was a great example. She couldn't share her duties with her family leaving them to believe her job wasn't important. She was ordered home. How many times did this happen, risking the lives of many?

My family were working class English. They worked in the factories. They stood in ration lines. They went without a lot. They survived on very little. I did not realize that not all suffered the same.

It is books like The Bletchley Women, that teach me something new everyday. It is books like The Bletchley Women that has me researching, exploring and talking to family. We need to continue to learn what happened so it never happens again.

I often pick up a book to read by the title and do not read the summary. So, then when I begin to read, I am sometimes confused why the storyline is not what I thought it would be. That was the case with this book. I wrongly thought it was a book about the inner workings of the female Bletchley code breakers. That is correct to an extent, but this book focuses more on the lives of the women, not the actual code breaking. Code breaking is definitely a theme, but in my opinion, a minor one. The lives of the two main character women are the primary focus.

With my wrong misconception, I thought the beginning of the books was moving very slowly, however, that again, was totally my fault. Once I saw that the focus was not on the code breaking, I became more involved in the story and fully enjoyed it.

I have read several books with Bletchley as a major factor, and I think this book was a unique approach to tell story. It is from two points of view and has given me deeper insight to what these women faced during this time. Not only were they heroes in stepping up to do work they had never imagine that they would be doing in their lifetime, they fought prejudices toward them from males that thought they were worthless, and the women worked endless hours without breaks or sleep. I am glad that their stories are being told so their role in WWII will not be forgotten.

This was the first book I read by Patricia Adrian. I enjoyed the flow of the plots and her character development. I will definitely be reading other books she writes in the future.

I want to thank HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity of reading the advance reader copy. My review is my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.

The Bletchley Women are a disparate group of young women who find themselves working at the secret code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park in 1940. The code-breaking process is still in it's infancy and the women's male colleagues have a tendency to think of them as less able. In fact there were more women at BP than men, so this proved to not be the case.

In particular the book follows Rose, a farmer's daughter with a fiance in the RAF, and Evie, an ex debutante trying to escape from her father's influence. The fact that nobody at BP was allowed to discuss their work is one of the things which causes repercussions for the women. This book is about friendship and mutual support during difficult times.

Very readable.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

The Bletchley Women by Patricia Adrian follows two women as they leave their homes in 1940 and start working at Bletchley Park. Both women know German, but they are from opposite walks of life. Rose is an educated woman, but she grew up on a farm and expected to marry soon. Evie is the daughter of a an English lord who is expected to marry well and spend her time doing good works. Another offer comes their way. The two women can help the war effort by decoding messages of the enemy. They cannot, though, tell anyone the true nature of their work. The ladies become close during the long days spent translating missives. The Bletchley Women is told from Rose Wiley and Evie Milton’s point-of-view (for the most part). If the war had not happened, they each would have married and led lives similar to their mothers. The story has a slow start. The book becomes more interesting when Rosie and Evie begin working together at Bletchley. I felt that the characters lacked development. I wish the author had taken the time in the beginning to introduce them properly instead of diving into the story. We meet Lucy Stevens later in the story. She joins Rose and Evie in the German Air Section. The Bletchley Women is easy to read, but the pacing is a little slow. The author is wordy with her detailed descriptions. Some of the sections on decoding the messages are confusing and I found them to be dull. I ended up skimming through those areas. There is a lack of action in the story. I tried, but I could not get invested in the story. The lackluster main characters, the dull decoding room, and the officious men left me yawning. I believe that The Bletchley Women is too similar to other novels set in this time period. It needed some intrigue to give it some zip. The Bletchley Women transports readers back to 1940 inside Bletchley Park where three women work to decode enemy transmission.

Whenever I see a story set at Bletchley Park and some of the amazing women who were code breakers there during WWII, I always jump right in and hope it’s a good book.

We meet wealthy Evie and farm girl Rose, but they’re both at Bletchley doing the same thing, trying to do their part of the war and decode German transmissions. They each have their own reasons for leaving home, and neither of them has to do with actually helping out the war time efforts. But as they keep working at Bletchley, they realize they can work together and they discover there may be more to what they want from their lives than they always thought.

This book ended up being more about the sexism of the era, and how men didn’t think women could handle such an important job and weren’t always trusted compared to men. It’s definitely an important part of the story, but there weren’t a whole lot of details to make it feel like historical fiction. If it wasn’t set in Bletchley Park, I don’t think the WWII setting would be obvious. And I tend to like historical fiction to have a good sense of time and place. That being said, I did find the actual decoding parts of the book interesting.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This novel, set in and around Bletchley Park, focuses on a small group of women working there as code breakers. One is a farm girl whose family wants her to come back and work as a Land Girl. Another is an aristocrat who finagles herself a job at Bletchley to get away from her overbearing father.

These two characters were quite well drawn and interesting. However, other characters in the book remained mere stick figures for the rest of the story. They appear, but we don't know anything about them. Also, the plot didn't quite make sense.

I somewhat enjoyed this book and read it until the end, but it left a lot of loose ends hanging. It needed another draft or two.

Thanks to Patricia Adrian, HarperCollinsUK, and Netgalley for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. The Bletchley Women will be released on Mar. 10, 2022.

Two women from two very different upbringings are brought together to help their country by cracking German codes during WWII. Evie Milton is a society debutante who is expected to marry a wealthy aristocrat and become a lady of their home. Rose Wiley is a farmer's daughter who is engaged to a local boy who joins the RAF to fight for his country and is expected to raise a large family in the same area she was born in. Each woman is in search of something they are missing - Evie is looking for her brother and Rose is looking for her freedom from expectations. As the women learn how to decode Nazi messages, they realize what they truly want out of life and do all they can to make it happen.

The codebreakers of Bletchley Park have been a topic of interest for me as I love learning about the role women played during WWII. I wanted to fall in love with this book but I found it lacking. For me, the story was far too long and it wasn't as intriguing as it could have been. It was more based on fiction than on actual women or procedures used during the time. There were also far too many characters brought in during the story to allow for complete concentration on the main characters. A little more research may have benefited the author to make the story more appealing.

The Bletchley Women tells the story of two very different women along with cast of supporting characters whose personalities are so richly written that it made this book difficult to put down. Both women - small-town Rose and elegant rich Evie - are hired by British intelligence / Bletchley Park to work as code breakers. Both struggle against overbearing family and what society expects from them as young women during the WWII time period. Even without the happy ending that I have come to love in books, this is a worthwhile read. I highly recommend it! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Having read a few books about Bletchley the secret headquarters where the decoding of German messages took place I was really interested to read this new book.
I did find it a little slow to begin with as I think it dwells a little too long about each girl & there backgrounds before getting in to the story.
Evie & Rose came from different classes of lifestyle & as happened a lot during the war they are thrown together to help the war effort.
As we all know the war changed everyone's lives especially those of women who realised they were capable of so much more than men had ever allowed them to do.
They were treated by some of the men who dismissed them as silly females & couldn't understand the powers that be putting them to work along side them.
They had to prove themselves time & again but without these women all would have been lost during the war if they had not stepped in to these jobs.
I would have liked a little more about what went on at Bletchley as that would have added another depth to the story.
Overall it was a nice read & good debut novel by this author.

WW2 at Bletchley Park, together they make for a very good story. Three ladies from very different backgrounds come together to work there. This has a good story line but there isn't so much detail as I have read in other books but this is still a very good read and I enjoyed it. This is more about the girls than the work that went on there but it is still worth 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this e ARC

Rose, Evie, and Lucy come from very different backgrounds, but they all end up at Bletchley Park breaking Luftwaffe messages for the Admiralty. Not all of the men there appreciate the talent, work, and dedication these women have. This makes the work of this sisterhood of girls even more challenging.

Follow the story of these young women in The Bletchley Women by Patricia Adrian as they strive to save England and find themselves changing in the process.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I wanted to love this historical fiction set in WWII but it just felt short of the potential. The author did a great job of bringing Rose, Evie and Lucy together but some details were never shared that would have been awesome! Like more of Lucy's arrival at Bletchly. Henry was a terrible character and I wanted him to be knocked down a bit and that never happened. Almost no romance in this novel which was sad. Overall an ok novel.

The Bletchley Women is a well done historical fiction book during World War 2 about code breakers that happen to be women.

The War of course changed everybody's life and the world too was about to change its perspective on women working.

Evie and Rose come from opposite life styles and it was an interesting journey how they not only became friends but learned to work together in a job that was devastating at times and rewarding at others.

The story is told from different POV's which worked really well.

I was sorry to see the book end and I look forward to another book by Patricia Adrian.

The Bletchley Women is a very good debut novel so add it to your TBR pile.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for a captivating read.

Stories of Bletchley never cease to amaze me and this one is the cat's pajamas! I adored the juxtaposition of Evie and Rose in their childhoods and how their friendship balanced one another's futures. I hope a second novel gets written to follow up with the gals in their post-war lives.

This was a great read. I very much enjoyed this debut novel. The two main characters, Rose and Evie were great and from very different backgrounds. Evie from a wealthy family with servants where she had everything done for her. Rose came from a farming background and has always had to work for whatever she had. Both when signing up for Bletchley had to sign an Official Secret Agreement and therefore were unable to tell their families or indeed anyone what they did.
The girls formed a close bond together with Lucy.
The story was written about a time when it was still a male dominant working environment and women were treated as inferior despite the hard work, results and long hours they put in.

An interesting read about the work of the ‘Fishnets’ as the small group of women working in the German Air Section at Bletchley Park, called themselves. A realistic example of the strength and fortitude of young women wanting to do their bit during the Second World War. Once you settle into the pace of the novel, new characters slowly appear, but it’s really just focused on three main young women with intuitive brains working on deciphering German signals. I found the sections on the girls decoding references slightly confusing and dull in comparison. Too similar to other novels of this genre, although it is a comfortable, easy read, but lacks that little bit of spark and intrigue.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers One More Chapter HarperCollins for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Bletchley Women is historical fiction centered on the women codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War II. The story is more fiction than historical, as there is just not much in the way of history told here, other than that these women are decoding at Bletchley. The story is centered on two of the women, with multiple subplots running around them. Evie is an aristocrat, whose privileged existence is hemmed in by her father's connections and rules. Evie heads to Bletchley in an attempt to find her brother, missing after Dunkirk. Rose is from a farming family, with a fiance who is an RAF pilot and an aunt who works for the War Office. Rose ends up at Bletchley when she asks her aunt to help place in a job that will be helpful during the war. Neither ever expected they'd be decoding German transmissions.

The World War II facts are thin. We see a little bit of how Rose learns troop movements through her decoding, and the push and pull between the departments. Other than a mention of some ships and bases, we have no context for any of it. More of the focus on Bletchley is on the sexism the women face, how understaffed and overworked they are, the feelings they have when they prevent, or fail to prevent, a bombing and the subsequent loss of life. In that way, I think the author does a decent job of putting women from different walks of life, in this precarious position when women's roles were changing drastically and they are needed, but the male world still wants to deny them. We see the bonds of friendship that develop between the women. But I wish we had more historical facts, at the least an author's note to provide some context. There is a scene where Evie arranges a party at Bletchley and that feels simply far fetched and unlikely. But maybe it happened, I don't know. These are the kinds of things an author's note can help, even if it's to say, this was a plot device only.

The characters of Evie and Rose are interesting in their own ways, but it was hard to be sympathetic with either. One thing the author does well is having a completely different voice for each character. When the POV changes, I rarely had to check to see which character we were in. Their voices were loud and clear. Evie is spoiled and annoying at times, but she is more self aware than Rose. Evie knows when she is putting back on her society mask. I appreciated that about her. Rose needs a good kick to learn to stand up for herself. Finally she does but I wish she'd done it earlier. It was hard to hang on and cheer for her, she was much too mousy. It was a factor of her upbringing for sure, but when you have a woman with the strength of character to call her aunt and look for a job, then you need her to stand up for herself at other times, too. She does, sometimes, such as with her landlords, but it needed to happen at Bletchley, as well, and well before the climactic scene and the epilogue.

The world is well populated but these side characters are rarely explored beyond the role they have in support of the main characters. Lucy is another woman at Bletchley, and I think the limited role she plays is just right. She's there for light entertainment, the steely strength when Evie and Rose learn more about her, the brightness of her stockings being both an actual spot of color and a metaphor for her role. There was opportunity for more humor from her. Elinor could have been drawn out a lot more, too. Her controlled ice was too controlled. Esther was a plot device, which was unfortunate, I would have liked to see more from her. The men of Bletchley are similarly one dimensional - the chauvinist, the absentminded professor, the aristocrat that is in charge, the fiance who wants his wife-to-be to be meek and mild, the brother who is a soldier but frankly just as spoiled as Evie. Plenty of people and faces, but not much depth in any of them.

Pacing is mostly good. The POV between Evie and Rose change at the chapters, except for one section/one chapter where a lot is happening, and there is a rapid switch back and forth between Evie and Rose. It's disconcerting because it's the only place this POV change happens within the chapter, but it works as a device to ratchet up the tension for that one scene. It all worked to keep me reading.

In the end, we have the change from Rose that we wanted to see. However, we needed to see more of that change on the page, not just in her thoughts where they were left incomplete. Evie also takes the leap for the life she wants, but it happens off page and we only have snippets. I think a scene with her making the choice and going, would have been nice, instead of just a few paragraphs to wrap it up. The moment of tension, the big climactic scene, was there but it was a bit of a let down. There was higher tension with some scenes beforehand, that were more about the characters. Without the full historical groundwork being laid, the historical climax fell flat.

Ultimately, I give this 3.5 stars for the character voices that were done so well. Enough of my interest was caught that I did keep reading, and that bumps me to 4 stars. I needed more character depth and more historical facts to be fully vested. I always want to learn more about Bletchley and I don't think this book works for those needing more history.

The Bletchley Women for the most part centers around two women from very different backgrounds working to decrypt and decode messages from the “Luftwaffe” during WWII at a secret location called Bletchley Park. At this point and time, women are not believed to be able to handle this kind of work but end up proving they are as adequate if not more so than their male counterparts.

Evie, is from a family of means. She’s been a part of the debutante balls, the society parties and everything in between. Her family has servants and she’s not used to having to do things on her own. Rose comes from a family of farmers and engaged to David, an RAF pilot. Rose has had to work for everything she has. Neither of these women knew what they were capable of or how much they were going to contribute to save lives in the war. They’ve both signed an Agreement of Secret Service, so neither can tell their families what they do, so through this they form a very deep bond with each other and help each other out as needed.

This book is fairly well written and I’m impressed with Patricia Adrian and this being her debut novel. There were a few places where I felt the story dragged on a bit but overall a definite 4 star read for me.

Thank you to #netgalley, #harpercollinsUK, One More Chapter for allowing me to read an ARC of this story for a fair an honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.

If you liked The Rose Code, you will like The Bletchley Women. It's a much faster read and not as much text about code-breaking. Instead we have two interesting women as the main characters and the POV switches between them. Rose is a middle-class farm girl who is engaged to a RAF pilot. When she believes he will be stationed near London, she appeals to her aunt, who is with the foreign office, to find her a job. She ends up breaking code at Bletchley. Then we have Evie, a debutante and daughter of a horrible man who sets out to control every aspect of Evie's life. Desperate to escape, she also ends up at Bletchley. There are a few ancillary characters, including other code breakers, landlords, family members. I did think the last 20 percent of the book felt rushed and the plot turned a bit ludicrous. But this is a solid entry in the WWII historical fiction category.