THE IMPORTANCE OF PIGEONS.
The cover of this book is excellent. The image is slightly old fashioned, appropriate for the period of the book, and has dynamic movement, featuring the three heros.
Robyn, Mary and Ned are each around 12 years old and are entrapped in Bletchley Park. This is because their home is now the famous Second World War top secret decoding centre. To the children, war and secret military codes are on the fringes of their lives. The restrictions on their movements are far more irksome. This story is a really clever twist on the story of Bletchley Park. The well known and much written about story of what went on there during WW2 has never really dealt with the effects of this establishment on the day to day lives of the people who lived there and round about the “Park”. To follow the story of the huge build up of people, machinery, and the military presence through the eyes and experiences of young folk just on the border of becoming teenagers is a very astute and well mastered approach.
To the heroine, Robyn, birds insects and animals and especially school friends are the most important things, followed by food and parents. She is nick-named “Birdie” by her father as she knows all of them that that live or visit the Park. During the war, carrier pigeons were a very useful way of sending secret messages back to Bletchley. The birds would be parachuted into, say, occupied France, and then coded messages would be attached to the leg of the bird. It would then be released to fly home to the Park. Robyn is no longer allowed to leave the Park to go to school because of the high security, so she is given a job as apprentice to the pigeon keeper.
Between them, the three children keep stumbling across clues, hints, mysteries -and enigmas. Is there an enemy spy at work at the Park? Can they unveil him or her? Would an adult ever believe them?
This is a well written book. You might think, if you are an adult reader, that you will easily spot the links between the clues that the children are not seeing, and you would solve the mystery quickly. I will bet you a shilling that you won’t!
The cover of this book is excellent. The image is slightly old fashioned, appropriate for the period of the book, and has dynamic movement, featuring the three heros.
Robyn, Mary and Ned are each around 12 years old and are entrapped in Bletchley Park. This is because their home is now the famous Second World War top secret decoding centre. To the children, war and secret military codes are on the fringes of their lives. The restrictions on their movements are far more irksome. This story is a really clever twist on the story of Bletchley Park. The well known and much written about story of what went on there during WW2 has never really dealt with the effects of this establishment on the day to day lives of the people who lived there and round about the “Park”. To follow the story of the huge build up of people, machinery, and the military presence through the eyes and experiences of young folk just on the border of becoming teenagers is a very astute and well mastered approach.
To the heroine, Robyn, birds insects and animals and especially school friends are the most important things, followed by food and parents. She is nick-named “Birdie” by her father as she knows all of them that that live or visit the Park. During the war, carrier pigeons were a very useful way of sending secret messages back to Bletchley. The birds would be parachuted into, say, occupied France, and then coded messages would be attached to the leg of the bird. It would then be released to fly home to the Park. Robyn is no longer allowed to leave the Park to go to school because of the high security, so she is given a job as apprentice to the pigeon keeper.
Between them, the three children keep stumbling across clues, hints, mysteries -and enigmas. Is there an enemy spy at work at the Park? Can they unveil him or her? Would an adult ever believe them?
This is a well written book. You might think, if you are an adult reader, that you will easily spot the links between the clues that the children are not seeing, and you would solve the mystery quickly. I will bet you a shilling that you won’t!