My Secret Life in Hut Six: One Woman's Experiences at Bletchley Park

by Mair Russell-Jones, Gethin Russell-Jones

The story of the World War 2 de-coders of Bletchley Park continues to fascinate. How did Mair Thomas, a musician brought up in the Welsh valleys, find herself in the rarefied atmosphere of Hut Six, surrounded by hundreds of others, all desperately trying to break the German Enigma Code? Sworn to secrecy and working in cramped and uncomfortable conditions, Mair discovered her degree in German and Music was just what was needed. Drawn from the public schools and Oxbridge her background was very different to that of most of her colleagues and she didn't immediately fit in. This captivating memoir unpacks her daily life and explores the relationships she built. My Secret Life in Hut Six provides a fascinating insight into one woman's battle against Nazi Germany vividly capturing an era of danger, strain and day to day difficulties that were brightened occasionally by visits from the top brass, such as Winston Churchill.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Espionage, Biography, Historical, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 2014

Reviews

[AH · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by stories about WWII, especially those that involve spy craft and cryptography. When I saw that this title was available on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read this book. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. Far too much time was spent on Mair's early life - when we finally get to the stuff about Bletchley Park, I had lost interest.

The parts about Bletchley Park were interesting, especially the horrible working conditions and a life ruled by the Official Secrets Act. I can't imagine sitting in front of those machines trying to break a code, much less never being able to talk about your work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lion Hudson PLC for a review copy of this book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Mair Russell-Jones, whose son discovered had kept a secret about her wartime work for over fifty years. When asked what she had done during the war, Mair told everyone she had worked for the Foreign Office. Although this was not a lie, what she had actually done was far more – and far more important – than she was allowed to tell. For she had worked in Hut Six at Bletchley Park, deciphering codes on the Enigma machine and, in the words of Churchill, shortening the war by at least two years.

This is Mair’s story, from her childhood in Wales to her life after the war. Although simply and straight forwardly told, it is an important story and humbling to read. Mair, a committed Christian, first had her political feelings awoken when she spent time at a Missionary Training College in East London, when she was shocked by the battle in Cable Street with Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists and made aware by the vulnerability of the Jewish people who lived there. She was saddened by the poverty she found in the East End and her eyes were opened about why Jewish refugees were fleeing Europe. Later, after war was declared and a friend of hers was killed in the bombings, the war also became personal.

Mair was at University, studying music, German and history, when she was approached by a man who did not introduce himself, but suggested she apply for an unnamed post at an unnamed position at the Foreign Office. Intrigued, she found herself signing the Official Secrets Act (something she took extremely seriously throughout her life) and within a short time she had arrived at Bletchley. The work was often tedious, her accommodation unwelcoming and she worried about loose talk – but, gradually, things improved. This is the story of the people she worked with, the essential work she was involved with and why she felt she had to become involved in the war.

It is obvious that Mair Russell-Jones took every responsibility seriously and always did her best in every task she undertook. During wartime she, and others, threw themselves into a top secret project. They knew there was to be no public recognition for their work, but they did it because they knew it would help the Allies win the war and defeat the enemy. This is an interesting account of her wartime work, for which we are all grateful. After so much secrecy, it is great to know that Mair’s wartime work will now be recognised.

Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

[Jeri Bidinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A son writes his mother's memoir. Interesting story, but not particularly well-written or edited. Though she speaks of her experiences in the past tense (as is appropriate), he for some reason writes the whole book in the present tense. Distracting.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Mair Russell Jones is told party in Mair’s own words, and partly by her son. Quite a lot of time is spent describing her early life, and her time at university etc, before she is recruited to work at Bletchley Park. The part about her life at Bletchley is quite interesting, it is evident that the work was often monotonous and quite dull, and there were frequent illnesses due to the poor ventilation etc. There are some memorable moments, like the time she saw Winston Churchill emerge from a hole in the ground (there was a secret tunnel between the railway station and the park). Another interesting part is about two girls she knew who were surprisingly indiscreet, always chattering about the things being done in the other huts etc (this was forbidden talk). Mair herself doesn’t seem to have been entirely discreet, about her war job, arousing hostility in some of her relatives who thought she was boasting about doing important work. Though it did make me wonder why people who went to work there weren’t given some more convincing cover story to tell their relatives.
Although quite interesting, I didn’t find this book as engrossing as some others I have read about Bletchley Park.

[Georgie’s Book Nook · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing look at Bletchley Park through the eyes of someone who worked there during the war.

This place holds a special place in my heart as my grandmother also worked there, and to think that Mair and my grandmother might have crossed paths at some point is quite extraordinary. This was more of a memoir, giving us background of Mair’s upbringing so we don’t actually get to BP until about a third of the way through, but I definitely thought some of the backstory was needed.

Even though I knew a fair bit about Bletchley, I still learnt a lot from this, especially as my grandmother worked in a different hut to Mair.

A great touching read.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this both well written and informative. An absorbing read.

[Mike Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mair Thomas, born in Wales in 1917 (her name, we learn about a third of the way through the book, is pronounced "My-r", not "Mare"), was a young woman during World War II. All she tells her family about that time of her life is that, "I worked for the Foreign Office in Bletchley Park."

Mair was in fact one of several thousand men and women who worked around the clock at the country estate about 80 km north-northwest of London, England, to crack encrypted German messages during the war. At least one historian has said the accomplishments of the "BP" codebreakers shortened the war by at least two years. But their tale remains largely untold, bound up in official government secrecy for about half a century.

In the late '90s, her son Gethin is leafing through a book about Bletchley Park and notices a photograph of several women working at desks holding typewriter-like devices in a concrete-walled room. One of the women is his mother. Mair confirms it. In 2008, at the age of 91, Mair receives a certificate and citation from the British government for her work at BP. If the Prime Minister can talk about BP, Mair decides she can, too. This book, written with Gethin, is her memoir.

The book is presented in alternating sections. The regular text in the present tense is Gethin's historical narrative of Mair's life. The italicized text in the past tense is Mair's first-person account. Some editing and polishing have clearly taken place; no one is that well-spoken. Still, it's a fascinating window into a very special time and place.

Mair was no one special. She was part of an almost assembly-line-like process of transcribing intercepted German messages, decoding them, and translating them. Mair never fully understood exactly how the decryption process (which involved a lot of trial and error) worked and was not certain that she personally ever successfully decrypted a single message. But she knew that the four years she spent at BP were among the best and most impactful of her long life. She knew that she had made a difference.

Mair was someone special. She was one of the first women from her Welsh valley to go away to university. She became a leader of a campus Christian group while she studied music, poetry, and German. These accomplishments and qualities surely contributed to her being recruited for BP.

Among the themes that emerge in this memoir are the tedium of the work, the camaraderie of those who worked there, the crushing weight of the secrecy, and the debilitating, exhausting working conditions. I was also struck by passages where Mair explicitly mentions that class, gender, religion, and other markers of identity were largely irrelevant. Mair identified people's social class by their accent (and she knew her own Welsh accent marked her as lower on the class hierarchy), but it just didn't matter when your job was to decrypt German messages:

"This was probably the most vivid and egalitarian time of my life. As soon as I started work in BP, I felt on an equal footing with everyone. I know Russ [her future husband] thought it was all based on class and pecking orders, but that wasn't my experience. For the first time I was judged purely on my ability and not my gender. I was paid well and had an independence I have probably not enjoyed since."

This is a working woman's perspective on a set of events that have been mythologized (such as in the movie The Imitation Game). It's a refreshing counterpoint to accounts that focus on upper-class male mathematicians and military officers.

[Agnesxnitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being quite a quick read, and while it was interesting to read this lady's whole life experience, I did start to get a bit annoyed with her.
Perhaps its the generation gap, but Mair had been determined and strong minded enough to leave home in Wales to go to a Ladies Christian college and do work in some difficult areas in the city, then go to study German at university and not only take part but end up running the University Christian Society but balked at standing up for herself once she was at Bletchley Park!
It was interesting to read how she had life experience before her service at BP, its not something I have read a lot about, but the accounts I have read, the participants almost dismiss their lives before BP and concentrate on their experiences there. I was interested in the family/home dynamic, with Mair's father and sister being very supportive to her, her work which she couldn't talk about and her fiance. Her odious relatives were shocking though! One cousin, to the end of his life from the sounds of things, bore a grudge against her, refusing to believe she had worked at BP and publicly upbraiding her in the street and any opportunity. I suspect he felt cheated that a mere woman had had the opportunities he should have had.
However, what did drive my teeth slightly on edge was Mair's almost puritanical attitude to some of her colleagues. I do appreciate her beliefs did mean she disapproved of the continuous affairs of colleagues around her, and I understand that, but with my generations view, I can also appreciate that life was extremely stressful, that Wellbeing wasn't considered and people deal with these things in different ways. However she seemed in deathly fear of having signed the Official Secrets Act and again, having signed it myself, I can understand being careful, she seemed to take it to extremes in some cases.
Anyway, not a wasted read, and this book is now off back to the library.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting memoir of Mair Russell-Jones, who was selected from the corridors of Cardiff University to be part of top secret work at Bletchley Park. The story is mostly told in Mair's own words, with some context provided by her son Gethin, for whom the editing of this book was clearly a labour of love. The downside of this is that the book could have had a better editor. The upside is that this ends up being a very special memoir because it's such a personal account.

So, we see Bletchley Park as Mair saw it - very little about the military importance of the work (which Mair was only vaguely aware of at the time), but very much about the challenging working conditions, the burden of signing the Official Secrets Act, the tensions with family back home, the outworking of her Christian faith, and the surprising privilege of being recruited. A substantial amount of the book is taken up with her pre-war years, which rather than being a space-filler was actually a good preparation for the reminiscences that followed, setting the scene for describing her "secret life". I was particularly struck by reading about her family's response to her recruitment, given the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act, and how Mair struggled with her inability to defend herself against some familial accusations, even later in life.

There are plenty of books that will tell you the details of the work of Bletchley Park, but if you want to know about life at Bletchley Park, this is a good read.

[Michael Rumney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mair provides the story of her life in her words whilst her son gives the historical background. Although I thought the book would focus more on the activities at Bletchley Park a fair portion of the book shows a great deal of Mair's early life before she is encouraged to apply for a 'non-existent' job at the foreign office
What comes across is the worry of divulging Mair's role against the fact she has signed the official secret act. Conditions aren't good and there is a real sense of not sure what she is doing at Bletchley. I was surprised of how cold it could be in the huts at Bletchley Park or BP as she puts it.
There is a high illness rate among staff due to the stress and poor ventilation in cramped smoky conditions something which isn't portrayed in films.
Towards the end of the book you can feel the relief as Mair's story is revealed to her family sparked by an old photgraph of her in the background of hut 6 at Bletchley. An inspiring page turner

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoir. While a senior at university in Wales, during the early days of WWII, Mair Russell-Jones was recruited by the British Foreign Office. When she went for her interview and even after accepting the position and swearing an oath to the British Official Secrets Act, she had no idea that she would spend the next four years working in Hut Six at Bletchley Park working to decode German and Japanese war transmissions. After the war, she kept this secret for sixty years. Only when she was 86 and had been officially recognized by the British government for her contribution did she begin to tell her story. Before reading this book, the little I knew about Bletchley Park came from movies. Or more precisely, one movie – Imitation Game with Cumberbatch. This memoir provides a more complete picture describing the hard work, deprivations, and tedious nature of sitting in cramped and uncomfortable huts day after day code breaking.

[Timothy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. This is a story about keeping secrets and patriotism. The work at Bletchley Park was held in absolute confidence for a half century. It seems almost unthinkable in this age of unfettered transparency. The code breakers working under Alan Turing were instrumental in defeating the Nazis during WWII. Mair did her part among many others, mostly women, who worked the machines. Most of them had no idea exactly what was going on and they were completely unable to discuss it with each other due to the extraordinary levels of secrecy.

Read it. I'm sure there are other books about the topic out there just as good, but this one is warmly personal and vulnerable. Mair is quite open about the fear and boredom involved in her work, as well as the constant need for silence. It's often good to see behind the scenes of a less violent portion of such a devastating conflict.

[Gail Spolton · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of one woman’s experiences working at Bletchley Park. The early part of the book deals with her childhood growing up in the Welsh valleys, her education , her work in Christian mission, working with Jews in London and her faith.
In 1941 at the age of 23 she joins the code breakers working in Hut 6. The narrative is told partly by Mair herself in her own words, recollecting the work and the people, and partly by her youngest son Gethin who fills in details of the time and his mother.

Although this is not the easiest book to read, sometimes being quite factual and technical, whilst also containing very human stories, overall I feel that it was a very informative read and if you are interested in the work of the code breakers at Bletchley Park, I would say it is well worth reading.

[Carol Surges · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life of one of Bletchley Park's unsung heroines is brought to life with Mair's own words and background information from her son, Gethin Russell-Jones. A clear picture of a young woman's life, her determination and struggle to be true to herself and her country is shared. Mair began working at BP right after graduating college and stayed through the end of the war, four years later. It wasn't until she was 82 years old and returned to what was now the Bletchley Park Museum that she begins to share her story, a secret she'd kept for fifty-five years. A secret that often alienated her from family and friends.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently begun to explore the world of Bletchley Park - den of code breakers, mathematicians, linguist and young women with puzzling minds. Mair Thomas goes to Bletchley not really knowing or understanding what will be asked of her or exactly what she'll do. She provides a great first hand account of her life and adventures there - signing a secrecy pledge she keeps for most of her life. Her regular person description of what she did, who she met, how she was treated was interesting and certainly provided a realistic idea of what people involved in WWII espionage was really like.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short book about life at Bletchley Park is awkward for a few reasons. The main one is its shifting tenses and POV. The BP worker’s account is quoted and interwoven with her son’s “fill-in”. The son’s POV is written in present tense and the mother’s in past tense. The son’s is typed in regular text, the mother’s in italicized text. Because the shift happens so frequently (often several times per page), it leaves the reader disoriented —and therefore disengaged.

[Tirzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a historical fiction on Bletchley Park, I was interested in reading a real-life account. This book is very informative on the subject and highlights other historical events (e.g., General Strike of 1926, Edward VIII's abdication). It was co-written by Mair's son, so you know it's a trustworthy account in which love and care were put. I recommend to those also interested in learning more about Bletchley Park.

[Gordon E. Castanza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent autobiography

Intriguing account of dedication to a goal. A haunting perspective of a type of nationalism called patriotism without sentimentality. I kept returning to it over 3 months

[Joanna Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely the best book I’ve ever read. An incredible account of Mair Russel-Jones contribution to the war. But more importantly a fantastic witness of Christian faith and how the Lord helped here through a very difficult time. A truly awesome book that I believe everybody should read.

[Sharon Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful story about WWII and the women involved in helping win it. Like to read about women who served and where not rewarded for it.

[Rhiannon Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the writing style and love how mother and son wrote it together.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an important part of our history. This memoir is rich with detail and the anxiety so many that signed The Official Secrets Act struggled with throughout the war and beyond.

[Terence Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly absorbing. A sense of awe for the people that worked at BP and kept silent for so long!

[Mardie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating true story about one woman's WWII journey and the Official Secrets Act.

[David Lowther · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Secret Life in Hut Six is one woman's absorbing account of her wartime experiences working at Bletchley Park. At one stage it was slightly dull until the penny dropped that life in the code breaking hub must have been dull and repetitive. These young men and women worked shifts in often cold in winter and hot in summer huts helping to decipher intercepted enemy radio traffic between during the Second World War. Without their efforts, the outcome of the war may well have been different.

The strength of Mair's tale is that we feel the enormous pressure she was under to abide by the Official Secrets Act for more than fifty years. Despite the unkind remarks of some of her relatives, she refuses to tell them what she is doing for the war effort and is consequently accused of malingering and lying. We feel her suffering as months and years of long hours in cramped conditions finally leads to a breakdown her health, a fate she shares with many of the others at Bletchley Park.

My Secret Life in Hut Six is very well written (partly by Mair's son Gethin) and shows that the life of a code breaker is not a glamorous or exciting one but rather one of total commitment, hard work and playing a part in doing something that changed the history of the world.

David Lowther. Author of The Pencil (thebluepencil.co.uk)
davidlowtherblog.wordpress.com

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received part of this book as an eARC. I didn't get it all, so am unable to review the entire thing, so the following review is for the first 369 locations received.

The book was not all from the POV of Mair Russell Jones. One of her children also interjects in-between the sections where she is talking. It's a little different, but not in a bad way.

The beginning starts off with the beginning of her childhood memories. It's really interesting and I wish I had more of it. It talks about how things were in her area of Wales before the start of WWII.

I didn't get much of the book, but from what I read, it was interesting and definitely something I would read more of and recommend. WWII is a topic that I can't get enough of and I think that this would definitely be good for WWII buffs. A solid 3.5 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lion Hudson Pic for an eARC sample to read and review.

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of life in Bletchley Park.

[Jonelle Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humble girl from the Welsh valleys is used greatly by the British Government during WWII. A great read!

[Sue Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best factual book I have read for a long time. So moving, getting emotional just thinking about it. A book I will read again and again. RECOMMENDED

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and found it gave a good 'feel' of what it was like to be there, rather than examining the details of the work done there.