Sarah Baring’s life certainly didn’t go in the way she thought it would from her childhood. As a distant relative to the royal family and debutante, she was expected to live a life of parties and going out to dance all night. She had spent time in Germany before World War II and was relatively fluent in the language. As war broke out, Baring saw first hand bombs dropping in her beloved London, often having to step through the rubble on her way home. She could not stand by. Along with a friend, she left a position at UK’s branch of Vogue magazine and signed up as a telephonist in an Air Raid Precautions Center and worked in the harsh conditions of a fighter plane factory, building planes that would be flown in England’s fight against Germany. Soon Baring was witnessing a whole new world from the women and men around her. Soon, her language skills helped lead her to the very secret Bletchley Park, and the code-breaking work that she had to keep secret for many years.
Not only is Sarah Baring a badass, her writing is fun to read. The Road to Station X is a fascinating look at how women lived before and during World War II, as well as the very hard work that went into building planes and cracking codes. She is funny and direct, talking about her feelings and the amazing friends she made working side by side with people she may never have come into contact with before the war.
The Road to Station X is now available from Sapere Books. It is definitely worth a read for those interested in how women impacted the war effort.
