Historical fiction with a bit of mystery, romance and intrigue. A story that is filled with lies and betrayals, both in the past and the present.

Bletchley Park was the secret code breaking headquarters in England during WWII and the work that was done there has been said to have shortened the war by several years. I was drawn to this title because I have been interested in Bletchley Park since I first saw the film, "The Imitation Game" in 2014, based on the biography of Alan Turing. This book however was less about the work that went on at Bletchley Park and more about the lives of some of the people who worked in and around this historical location. But, I was not disappointed.

Written in dual timelines, it is the story of Pamela, in 1943, who accepts a job at the mysterious Bletchley Park along with numerous other women who are handpicked for their intellect, skill at math and languages, and their eagerness to contribute to the war effort. She finds new challenges, as well as friendships and love. In 2019, Julia, Pamela's granddaughter who runs her own IT business with a friend, learns about her grandmother's long held secrets and life at Bletchley Park. At the same time, Julia is struggling with her own challenges at home and at work.

I normally prefer stories that are written in a linear format. When books are written in dual timelines I usually end up liking one storyline better than the other, and this book was no different. However, I became more invested in both storylines as the book progressed. I can honestly say that I am now a new fan of this author, Kathleen McGurl. I will certainly be reading some of her earlier books, and if they are anything like this one than I can look forward to a lot of good reading.

Many thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. #TheGirlfromBletchleyPark #NetGalley
Publication date: November 3, 2021

This is not the first book I have read by Kathleen McGurl and just like her previous novels this new offering is a great read.
It is a dual time line which features the modern day Julia and her grandmother Pamela during WWII. Both women share similar intrigues with their menfolk and demanding jobs. The outcome is positive for both of them and provides a satisfactory (if somewhat obvious) ending.
A good read to get lost in with added period details about Bletchley Park.

"The Girl from Bletchley Park" is a dual timeline novel so only half of it is actually set at BP. The leading women in both stories are so absorbed in their work that they don't take enough attention of what is happening in the outside world. Both of them are let down by men because they fail to read the signs - which were pretty obvious to me. OK but not great.

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

Pam is an extremely bright young woman, with a place at Oxford to study mathematics, who defers her university place to do top secret work at Bletchley Park in World War 2.

Julia is Pam's grand-daughter. She is a successful businesswoman, a wife and mother of two boys.

We see Pam leave home and start work at Bletchley Park where she has two admirers, Edwin who works with her on the Colossus project and Frank, the gardener at Woburn Abbey where the women are billeted.

In the present day, Julia is struggling with having it all, running a business from an office at the bottom of her garden, doing the work, running a house and supporting her husband and sons. Her brother decides to sell the family house in Devon which he inherited and brings a lot of family documents and photos to Julia because he knows she likes that sort of thing. When Julia has an old roll of film developed she finds photographs of her grandmother and her grandmother's friends at Bletchley Park. The family never knew that Pam had worked there during the war and Julia is intrigued to find out more.

Told in alternating time periods, this was pleasant enough, if hugely predictable and not very original. Frankly, Pam might just as well have been a typist (as she told friends and family when they asked about her job), because there was so little depth about how she allegedly used her maths and languages skills.

I would probably have given the book three and a half stars, but the end made me so angry that I deducted half a star. (view spoiler)

I think the book suffered by being told from two time frames, neither was in depth, and therefore it felt a bit superficial.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A dual time line story, we have Julia in 2019, who is a soft wear developer, a wife and mother with her own business. Pamela, her grandmother, is in 1943. She is a mathematician with a place at Oxford but goes to work in Bletchley for the war years.

This dragged for me from the start. Both women were very naïve. Julia, a successful, intelligent woman couldn't see what was staring her in the face. Pamela was a bit one dimensional. I never really got immersed in her story. The love story wasn't very interesting. None of the characters were fleshed out enough. We didn't get to know enough about them to care about them.
I would have liked a lot more about Bletchley as I find it a fascinating piece of history and it's one of the main reasons I was drawn to the book. Instead we get too much about Julia's job, way more than we needed.

Having thoroughly enjoyed this author's last book I was expecting great things. Unfortunately it missed the mark for me.

Thanks to HQ Digital and Netgalley for an early copy of this book.

This book drew me in from the word go. I was on the edge of my seat through the entire book. These strong women were thrivers and a great example to other women. When an empowering story.

With grateful thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
Firstly can I just say I've read many books from this author kath McGurl and they are outstanding, but in my opinion she has really excelled this time with The Girl from Bletchley Park.
A twin timeline that worked absolutely perfectly and seamlessly between the two era's.
We're on a journey back in time to when Pam was a young girl doing her duty at Bletchley Park and her comrades who form a wonderful bond together, in today's time her granddaughter Julie is facing up to live and all that it throws at us at times.
An outstandingly poignant tale unfolds the attention to detail is absolutely amazing there are twists and turns you really won't see coming I can't praise this book enough and highly recommend reading when it comes out.

Julia has a successful career, but her husband grows more bitter each day that he has not achieved the same level of success. leaving Julia to struggle with her job, her children and her childish husband. The Julia comes into possession of photographs of her grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park. Pam never spoke about her time there, and curious to know why, Julia decides to dig into the past to find the answers. In 1942, Pam turned down a place at University to work as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, surely one of the most important roles in helping the Allies win the war. It’s here that Pam will meet the two men that will change her life forever, and the reason she will keep her time as a codebreaker a secret. McGurl writes the most incredible historical fiction, I always walk away from her books feeling like she was actually there, living among her oh so real characters back in the mists of time