Enigma was published by Hutchinson in 1995. Set at Bletchley Park in March 1943, during the desperate Battle of the Atlantic, the novel follows Tom Jericho, a brilliant but fragile mathematician modeled partly on Alan Turing, who is recalled to Bletchley after a nervous breakdown to help crack the German Navy’s new four-rotor Enigma cipher (Shark). As U-boats ravage Allied convoys, Jericho discovers that a woman he was involved with — Claire Romilly — has disappeared, and that her disappearance is connected to a security breach within Bletchley itself.
Harris’s research into the codebreaking operation was detailed and accurate. The novel captured the peculiar culture of Bletchley Park — the eccentric genius, the rigid class hierarchies of wartime Britain, the extraordinary pressure of work whose success or failure was measured in ships sunk and sailors drowned.
Bletchley Park
Harris’s depiction of Bletchley Park — its culture of secrecy, its mixture of academic brilliance and military rigidity, its role in shortening the war — helped bring the codebreakers’ story to a wider audience years before the 2014 film The Imitation Game. The novel was adapted into a 2001 film starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott.
Collecting Enigma
First edition (Hutchinson, London, 1995): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- UK first edition, fine in jacket: $75–$200
- US first edition (Random House): $30–$75
Projected values (2026–2036): Strong appreciation. The novel’s enduring reputation and the growing public interest in codebreaking history ensure sustained demand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Enigma made into a film? Yes. The 2001 film starred Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet, with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard. It was reasonably faithful to the novel and the Bletchley Park setting was praised. The real codebreakers’ story has since been told in The Imitation Game (2014), which focused on Alan Turing.