A stunning collaboration between award-winning and bestselling authors Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, this middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death. Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his;quirky;younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II--Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi''s Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother. The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks;outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion.;Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother''s disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: <How long must a secret be kept?<

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Ruta Sepetys (rutasepetys.com) is an internationally acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction published in over sixty countries and forty languages. Her novels Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, Salt to the Sea, The Fountains of Silence, and I Must Betray You have won or been shortlisted for more than forty book prizes, and are included on more than sixty state award lists. Between Shades of Gray was adapted into a graphic novel, and the film Ashes in the Snow, and her other novels are currently in development for TV and film. She is also the author of You: The Story. A Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Ruta is passionate about the power of history and literature to foster global awareness and connectivity. She has presented to NATO, to the European Parliament, in the United States Capitol, and at embassies worldwide. Ruta was born and raised in Michigan and now lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @RutaSepetys, and on Facebook at facebook.com/RutaSepetys

Steve Sheinkin is the acclaimed author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction histories, including Impossible Escape, Fallout, Undefeated, Born to Fly, The Port Chicago 50, and Bomb. His accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and Honor, and three National Book Award finalist honors. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children. He can be found online at SteveSheinkin.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveSheinkin and on Facebook at facebook.com/Steve.Sheinkin.

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**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A thrilling mystery and collaboration between award-winning and bestselling authors Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin! This historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s disappearance.

"Break out your Enigma machines! Sepetys and Sheinkin have written a thrilling World War II code-breaking adventure filled with ciphers, secrets, and spies."—Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee

**Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act…

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister, Lizzie, share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amid one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues that unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?

Leseprobe
1•Jakob
First things first: a riddle.
A traveler crosses a border into enemy territory. We’re talking ages ago—­ancient times, warring kingdoms, that sort of thing. The traveler is stopped by soldiers. It’s their job to make sure no one carries any secret messages. They search the man, strip him bare, run fingers through his hair.
The man is clean. He pulls on his clothes, goes on his way.
But he does have a hidden message.
Where? I’ve given you a clue.
No, it’s not in his brain. And not in his body, though that can work. It’s a classic spy trick. There’s this story from the American Revolution where a British spy is caught sneaking through American lines. The Yanks suspect him of carrying secrets. They force him to drink some horrid potion, and next thing you know the poor chap’s evacuating from both ends. Sure enough, out pops a silver bullet. This is no ordinary bullet—­it’s hollow and can be unscrewed. Inside is a tiny folded note.
But our traveler carries no such spy gadget. Our man continues his journey. He walks for hours. Finally, deep in the woods, at an agreed-­upon spot, he meets a rebel leader, an ally of his own king. The traveler asks for a very sharp knife. He lifts the blade to his head . . . and begins to shave off his hair.
The secret message is written on his scalp.
I’ll never forget telling my sister this one. Lizzie was six or seven, and for weeks she ordered every adult she saw to bend down so she could search their head for hidden writing. She informed Mr. Davies, our neighbor across the hall, that he could never, ever be a spy.
“Why not?” he wished to know.
She said, “Because you have no hair.”
Davies was terribly put out. Maybe he dreamed of becoming a spy. Maybe he was one. It’s possible—­a nice head of hair is not required these days. You see, people have come up with better ways to send secrets than writing them on each other’s heads.
Of course, the more cunningly the secrets are hidden, the harder people like me will work to find them.

2•Lizzie
Allow me to explain something.
I’m lying.
And surprisingly, I’m quite good at it. I never imagined that at the age of fourteen I’d excel at deception. But these days, many things surpass even my robust imagination. England on the brink of German invasion, for one thing. The sweaty man in front of me, for another.
“Apologies, Mr. Fleetwood. I didn’t realize I’d walked us so far today.”
That was one of the lies, of course. The walk was a death dash. A ploy to ensure he’d be positively exhausted when we boarded the ship and entered our cabin.
Fleetwood, my chaperone for the voyage, heaves his bloated and blistered trotters into a pan of water. Remarkably small feet for such a wide frame. He mops a line of sweat from his brow, his face so flush with pink, it resembles a glazed holiday ham.
“Oh, goodness. Gran made no mention of your foot ailment,” I tell him.
“I’ve no ailment. And you will report no such thing to your grandmother. I simply wasn’t p…