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Enigma

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.


Bletchley Park: the top-secret landmark of World War Two, where a group of young people were fighting to defeat Hitler, and win the war. March 1943, the Second World War hangs in the balance, and at Bletchley Park a brilliant young codebreaker is facing a double nightmare. The Germans have unaccountably changed their U-boat Enigma code, threatening a massive Allied defeat. And as suspicion grows that there may be a spy inside Bletchley, Jericho's girlfriend, the beautiful and mysterious Claire Romilly suddenly disappears.


© Robert Harris 1995 (P) Penguin Audio 2009

 20th Century Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military Fiction War Military Exciting Mystery U-Boat Submarine Suspense
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The film was disappointing in that it degenerated into a chase across Scotland, something Buchan (39 Steps) did better. The book is more interesting, building up the bizarre world of Bletchley Park as they seek within acute claustrophobia and developing paranoia to break the German naval codes the better to protect the convoys from the U-boats. But different agendas impinge upon their engagement with the Battle of the Atlantic, for they are also listening to Wehrmacht signals from the eastern front, where something very strange has been unearthed in the territories over which the Nazi extermination teams are putting down all resistance and more. The devil has found traces of someone worse, at least comparable, if you are Polish. It gradually becomes clear that our new Soviet allies have been up to something none of the Allies want to hear about. And so the chase is on, to stop the U-boats and so break the naval seige of these islands, while coming to terms with what has been going on along the eastern front. Different members of the team to break the German code react in different ways, but all are going to be changed utterly by the remifications of what they are discovering about war at sea and death along the eastern front. Since this book came out much has changed as regards our knowledge of what happened when Poland was divided between the Nazis and the Soviets. The book was a novel way into the complexities of why one of the worse moments of the Second World War was so long hidden not just by the perpetrators but by almost all concerned. It suggests too that no aspect of the war was totally sealed against what was going on elsewhere: this truely was a world war. And most people have to survive with little knowledge to go on, with every choice often little more than the lesser of the two evils. Read/listen to the book (and then read Fatherland for an exploration of an even greater though hidden trauma).

Enigma - exploring the complexities of Katyn

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I’ve listened to this audiobook more than any other, probably 10 times and it still hooks me in. Detail, character, world, plot, narration are faultless. Recommended.

Probably the best audiobook I’ve listened to

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I wouldn't have bought this audiobook if I'd seen that it was the Abridged version. All in all is still a good listen but it is quite difficult to follow at times as the story seems to jump around. Well performed for all that

It's Abridged!

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Really keeps you on the edge of your seat! Definitely a must-read for anyone who loves intelligent mystery stories.

Great pacing and compelling story.

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superbly narrated and a story full of intrigue and characters. I would recommend for an age of 13+

excellent narrator, great story

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