by Ruth Eastham
Websites
Bletchley Park and the campaign to save it:
www.savingbletchleypark.org
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14164529
www.adefoto.co.uk
“It is so important to communicate to our younger generation the important role that mathematicians played in saving this country of ours at its time of greatest danger.”
Frank Jackson, Bletchley Park Volunteer
World War II and Enigma code:
www.en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:World_War_II/Enigma
Write your own Enigma messages:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/decoding
Support for families of people in prison:
www.pffs.org.uk
www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk
Acknowledgements
Many sincere thanks are due in the writing of this book.
To the entire team at Scholastic for their unstinting support. To my editor, Alice Swan, and Clare Argar, for keeping me on the right path. Jamie Gregory for the cover. To my agent, the marvellous Anne Dewe, wishing her a long, happy retirement.
To everyone at the inspirational Frederick Bird School, for the warmest of welcomes. To Mr Hinman at the archives who showed me files from the Coventry Blitz, and Janette who took me to see the roofless ruin of the cathedral and told me about the city’s spirit of reconciliation.
To all the Clan. To Mapu, for discussions about perfume bottles and dodgy scaffolding, Sarah E, for a quiet place to think, and baby Leo for keeping things quiet. To Silvana and Aldo, Margaret and Paul, for tireless grandparent duties.
To Inge, who loves maths, and Marco, who loves stories. To Dawn and Morris for insights into an older draft, and the poshest fish and chips in Liverpool. Joy, who lives in another Foxglove Cottage, and Grandma Wilson, who told me about the art of winching barrage balloons during World War II. To the people who live round Bletchley, with apologies for terrible liberties taken with the setting. To Caro, Josie, Susie and Sarah who helped me break the code.
To Frank, a Bletchley Park volunteer, who explained to me how an Enigma Machine works; and to Tim, Harriet and Alistair who took me to BP despite the snow. To Sue Black for starting the campaign. To photojournalist, Ade Fishpool, for the DVD. To the wonderful Beryl Middleton, 85 years old, who told me how she signed the Official Secrets Act at 18 and what it was like to work in Hut 7.
To family and friends across Europe and beyond, who taught me that war is a terrible thing, no matter which side you end up on.
And to Max, Anna and Elena, for patience way beyond the call of duty, as I worked round the clock to try and crack it.
First published in the UK in 2012 by Scholastic Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2015
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Text copyright © Ruth Eastham, 2012
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eISBN 978 1407 12461 2
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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