Code name Verity

I stayed up till two last night trying to desperately finish this book, even though I knew that the ending could never be happy. Still... I hoped. I hoped.

It's World War II, and "Verity," a Scottish spy, is captured by the Gestapo while conducting a secret operation in France. In order to prolong

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her life, she agrees to tell her captors the truth about her life and her work as a spy. The first half or so of the book is her personal confession, and she tells the truth - but that truth might not be what the Nazis were expecting. Verity is not the only one who is in danger from the Nazis - her best friend, Maddie, a civilian pilot who delivered Verity to France, is also in France, hiding from the Gestapo, and she is desperate to find her captured friend.

The sacrifices that each girl makes for the other broke my heart, and their characters really grew in my mind, until I could not put the book down. I am not very familiar with the role of women during World War II, especially in Britain, but from what little I studied, this book is for the most part historically plausible.

There is only one very small peeve that I have, and that isn't even with the book itself. It's with the historical notice. Now, I know this is me being a Douchey McNitpick, but this small sentence did bother me a tad at about 2 in the morning last night. It was at the very last paragraph of her end-of-the-book historical notice, where Wein thanks the people who were involved with World War II and influenced her throughout her life. Here's the quote, where she described what these people did:

"...who during the global conflict of the Second World War were variously Resistance fighters, camouflage unit artists, RAF fighter pilots, and USAF transport pilots, child evacuees, prisoners in American as well as German concentration camps..."

Sigh. The detainment of Japanese-Americans during World War II by FDR was an easy way out to the difficult problem of Japanese spies in America, but I don't believe it was the right way. It was cruel and it was not complementary with the values of freedom and liberty that my country stands for. However, I would not have chosen to put the American internment camps in the same breath as the German concentration camps. I respect my audience very highly, so I doubt that I need to go into the atrocities that happened at the Nazi prison camps, as well as the inhumane actions at the Japanese concentration camps. My only wish is that Wein would've chosen her words more carefully, because the American internment camps are not comparable to the German or Japanese concentration camps.

Other than that small sentence (which isn't even techincally a part of the story anyway), this book was a deep and moving read for me. It's rare nowadays for there to be a good YA book about a close friendship, especially between two people of the same sex. Everyone assumes that two people who are very close are romantically in love, but that is not always the case, and I believe it is a great disservice to what love is if we all think that. I hope that there will be more books like "Code Name Verity" that show the power of a close and passionate friendship.

Best quote from the book: "It's like being in love, discovering your best friend."

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The fall of 1943, Nazi-occupied France. An British plane crashes and a young female spy is captured. She has been named Verity. As she is being interrogated, she begins to tell a story, about her best friend Maddie, the pilot of the plane that wrecked. How two people from very different backgrounds

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met and an unbreakable bond formed. Verity also begins to divulge classified information, to keep herself alive and to learn Maddie’s fate, but is she telling the truth or weaving a complex and dangerous web of lies?
This is a beautifully written, deftly plotted story about survival and friendship. The author captures the period vividly and I learned many details about the war that I never knew before, including the presence of female spies and female pilots in the RAF. Highly recommended.

“But a part of me lies buried in lace and roses on a riverbank in France-a part of me is broken off forever. A part of me will be unflyable, stuck in the climb.”

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I kept hearing that this book was amazing and heartbreaking. I decided to buy it for my 13-year-old niece's Christmas, and I had to read it first.

Holy. Crap.

This book is devastating. It's one of those rare reads that made me half-sick to continue because I was so worried about the characters and

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what would happen and how they could survive.

It's a World War II story, but most of all, it's a story about friendship. There's a beautiful line about how meeting your best friend for life is like falling in love, and this is that kind of love story. These two young women are fierce and intelligent in their own unique ways, and against the backdrop of war, they are surviving in their own unique ways.

I have to pause and gather my thoughts here and NOT cry as I think about this book.

From a historical fiction standpoint, it is enlightening and educational. It delves a great deal into the role of women in the British war effort, especially as pilots. There are no black and white characters. Everyone, Allied or Nazi, is incredibly nuanced and complex. In that regard it really reminded me of Suite Francaise (also a devastating book, more so since it was written about WWII during the war and the author died in a concentration camp).

I'm going to gift this book to my niece with a note about how it's not the sort you read and enjoy; it's the type that haunts you, lingering over your mind like a ghost, as you miss the characters like real people.

I will never forget this book.

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In short: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is an exceptionally brilliant story with emotionally powerful narration.

I knew I was going to need to read Code Name Verity when the positive reviews came pouring in, one after the other. Historical fiction isn't a genre that I usually read and enjoy and

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indeed, when I first started Code Name Verity, I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story. It was a bit disorienting following the narration in letter format as Verity switches between what is happening in the current and what has happened in the past in quick succession. There is also a ton of piloting details that, while really adding to the feeling of historical accuracy, were not always the most interesting to read about. But I continued on, knowing that people had gushed about the power and emotion of the story.

And I'm glad I did continue: because what I read in part two of Code Name Verity, this time told from Kittyhawk's point of view, was like a reward. It was like I had been moving through a long, dark tunnel in part one - appreciating Elizabeth Wein's beautiful narration and depiction of the friendship between Verity and Kittyhawk, but still struggling a bit with the point and direction of the story - and then BAM, there was light and suddenly everything made sense and it was like a puzzle snapping into place. The entire time in part one clues were being left and I was completely oblivious to it. It made me instantly want to return and read part one again to pick up on everything that I missed. What seemed like a frenetic and at times, irrelevant, part one suddenly became clear and evident and it was BRILLIANT.

Part two also opened up a whole new can of emotions: part one seemed more like your standard WWII novel - at least at the time that I was reading it - complete with a ton of intricate and interesting historical details (it is very evident that Elizabeth Wein has done her research well), whereas part two seemed more personable and emotional. And when I say emotional, I mean absolutely HEARTBREAKING at times. How can it not be when in such a short time you come to care so deeply for these two girls? These two girls who, while differing in personality, were both brave and admirable characters who forged a wonderful friendship. Elizabeth Wein will have you buzzing with happiness at times with the way their friendship is depicted and will break your heart in others with her strong and emotional writing.

I am happy I went outside my comfort zone to read Code Name Verity because I was rewarded handsomely with a powerful story that really had an impact; a story that left me astounded at its brilliance as all the clues in part one fell into place in part two. I highly recommend Code Name Verity to all readers, even non-historical fiction fans. Be patient with part one if it seems disorienting and unimportant because you will be rewarded if you stick to it.

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Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Heartbreaking. Humorous. Sensational writing. Phenomenal narrator. And this emotional roller-coaster has left me without enough words to encapsulate how I’m feeling.

Opening Sentence: I am a coward.

The Review:

Code Name Verity begins with our

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narrator as she gives up. She’s not strong, she’s not unbreakable. The fact is, she breaks rather quickly — first exchanging lines of code for items of clothing and then promising to write down everything she can possibly remember about the British military. She has two weeks and all the paper she can write on to fill up with treason. And she writes. Selfishly and passionately because she does not want to die. But she will, because that’s what you do to enemy spies.

She tells the story of Maddie, her best friend in this secretive world of intelligence and night raids. How Maddie began dreaming of flying after a pilot crash landed in a field near her picnic and turned out to be a girl. How she began as a radio operator when the war started and moved her way up to ferry pilot, helping move supplies and bomber pilots around Britain. The only reason she’s signing this treasonous at all is because she looked the wrong way crossing the street in front of the wrong people who blew her cover. Reliving it all through Maddie’s perspective as she writes, our narrator gets to escape from herself, from the way everything seemed when she wasn’t trapped in a cell. When she still had her bravery.

It’s through Maddie that our narrator is revealed to be a Swiss boarding school and Oxford student with a head for German literature who’s fluency in French and German made her perfect for the War Effort. That Maddie is revealed to be modest, caring and in love with flying. Within the first few pages, your emotionally invested, but by the time the chapter’s are over these characters are real. There is so much invested in these characters and their unique situations and their specific qualities that the weight of the book increases tenfold. Maddie and our narrator have continued to haunt me, enough that this book will probably be one I read again down the road.

I don’t want you to think I cried my way through this book. It tore at my soul and yeah, I did cry, but it made me laugh too. Trying to explain how a book about a girl being tortured can make you laugh out loud is pretty much impossible, so just trust me when I say that our author imbues this book with the perfect tone, illuminate the prose with humor at just the right moment. It’s not an easy read, though. If you’re expecting to get through it in an afternoon or two just because it’s short, you should put it off for another time. Because you can’t race through this book. It’s just not possible. It’s too gripping and the characters are too deep for you to even want to speed-read once you get started.

This book is one of my absolute favorites. That being said, it is definitely not an easy read. It’s harsh and it’s real and graphic because that’s the reality of war. But if you pick it up, you won’t regret it. This review has barely touched the surface of what the book’s about, because anything else would give it away and the gasp-out-loud moments are one of the greatest parts of this book. I have never read a book like it. Certainly not in the young adult genre — not like the writing or story. I finished it yesterday and have a book-hangover. I really doubt the feeling will leave anytime soon.

Notable Scene:

She set about lighting the cigarettes and announced in her brisk, straightforward French, “I don’t want to waste my time listening to propaganda. It’s my job and I’m wise to it. I’ll be frank with you–I’m looking for truth. Je cherche la vérité.”

“Your accent is frightful,” I answered, also in French. “Would you repeat that in English?”

“She did–taking no insult, very serious, through a pall of smoke.

“I’m looking for verity.”

FTC Advisory: Hyperion Books provided me with a copy of Code Name Verity. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

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Is Code Name Verity a Young Adult book? a Book for children? Truthfully?

Maddie and Queenie meet as the war in England is just getting on the boil. She is a ferry pilot in the civilian Auxiliary; she is a German speaking intelligence officer and interrogator (and once and always , a Scot!)

We see

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them in training, we see them doing the work, bravely and uncomplainingly, and at last we see them make a run into occupied France, and through one misstep after the other, we see one a captive and one on the run. Young women - girls really - fighting against the Nazis for patriotism and for their homes (and for themselves)

It speaks frankly and clearly about sex and pain and torture and being a woman in a man's world and being a woman and a girl (and a soldier) in the middle of the "night and fog" of World War II.

The book is Queenie's "Confession" in captivity and a bit more besides. Her fierce intelligence and stoicism is awe inspiring.

And the book is Maddie (FLY THE PLANE, MADDIE!) learning to endure and learning to fight and learning, in the end what a friend is and what bravery is.

I loved every page of this book. Lots of great details of flying airplanes from a woman writer who knows her stuff, and a lot of real details about the war and about how sometimes women and girls fought in it too.

And a wonderful gotcha at the end that will have you tearing back through the book again to pick up everything that you missed that they author put out in plain sight for you.

Branding this a book for YA only is to deprive us in the over 16 set a rare treat and a rare experience.

VERY Highly recommended.

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Summary: Verity is a young British woman, being held by the Gestapo in a small town in Nazi-occupied France in 1943. Under torture, she's agreed to tell her captors everything she knows, but she demands two weeks to write out her story, even though she knows when the time is up, she'll most likely

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be executed… if she's lucky. Her story involves how she came to be in France, and heavily features her best friend, Maddie, a pilot who flies ferry planes within Britain as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary.

That's probably one of the least-useful summaries I've written, but so much of the fun of this book is piecing things together for yourself that I don't want to say too much more.

Review: This book was amazing. Unputdownably good. You should read it. Right now.

But this book is also really difficult to talk about why it's so good without giving away a lot of the details that make it good. But I'll give it a go.

First up, the characters are great. Verity and Maddie feel like real people, people who crawl into your heart without your noticing, and then cause it to break, repeatedly. But the secondary characters are also really interesting, as you tease details about them out from the course of the main story. (I also have a rather large crush on Jamie, now.) The history is also really great. Every time I feel like I'm fed up with World War II novels, that there can't be a WWII novel with a new angle, something like Code Name Verity comes along to shut me up. I'd never heard of women pilots during the war, and Verity's role in things was also fascinating. Wein also includes a good author's note that discusses her sources, and the (few) times she deviates from historical fact.

The plotting of the novel is different from normal - since it's Verity telling her story while she's still a prisoner it sort of starts from the middle and spreads out from there, jumping back and forth through time. But Wein makes it all work together, building the suspense and tension and throwing in a bunch of twists and turns that make you go back and re-read and re-evaluate previous scenes. This is one of those books that you finish and immediately want to go re-read, not only to figure out what's really going on, but also because it's so immersive that it's hard to put it down and drag yourself back out of. 5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Absolutely highly recommended. It's listed as YA, but it's older YA, and really, I think anyone who likes WWII stories or spies or pilots or stories of bravery and friendship, or novels that require paying attention and that keep you guessing, will enjoy this book.

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I feel like this book could have been good if a few things about it had changed. Half of the book is written from "Verity's" point of view as she writes down her confessions on whatever pieces of paper her captors can scrounge up. Normally, it would be interesting/heart-wrenching to read about a

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character who has been tortured and forced to give up secrets in order to try and make the pain stop, however, the confessions that she writes is done is such an unrealistic way that it was distracting. Basically, she is allowed to sit there and write a novel about her life story from how she first go involved in the war to her capture. Wein tries to make this seem plausible by showing that the SS officer (SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer von Linden) in charge is actually a very literary person and enjoys a good narrative, by I'm not buying it. There is no way that the officer von Linden works under would allow this to continue. Von Linden probably would have been shot in the head long before "Verity" even got close to the juicy bits of the story. This alone was enough to ruin this whole section for me.

However, by the second half, it got better. Which is why this book isn't graded lower than it is. The second half is from the perspective of her friend of whom "Verity" talks about in her ever so lengthy confession. Maddie is a much more realistic character, and the manner of her writing down her experiences of hiding in occupied France makes much more sense as is acts as both a report on her plane crash and a diary. I also believe that Maddie is a much more interesting character than "Verity".

Maddie's constant fear of getting captured was very real, and not only did she worry about herself but she constantly worried about the family that was hiding her away, knowing that if she were caught, this family would surely die, or worse, be tortured by the Nazis. She was also the more relateable character as she is not actually a member of the military and so doesn't have the training for these situations like "Verity" has. She admits to her fear, and while she claims that she is a coward, Maddie is actually one of the bravest people in the whole book, as she does what needs to be done despite the fear that she feels. This, in my opinion, is true courage.

If this whole book were written in the perspective of Maddie, or if the "Verity" sections were short, and thus more realistic, I would have enjoyed this book much more than I did. As is, I can't give it a higher score since I really disliked half the book. And disliking half the book automatically disqualifies it from high scoring.

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I've been wanting to read Code Name Verity since I first heard about it, and I finally got to. In audio book form.

It's hard to know what to say beyond that it's amazing and terrible and utterly compelling. But I'm going to try. Without spoilers.

Two young women become friends during the second world

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war, despite their different class (and geographical) backgrounds. In 1943, one of them is captured by the Gestapo in Nazi-Occupied France. The deal she makes with her captors includes writing an account of what she knows about the British War Effort. She tells her 'confession' about wartime Britain by writing about her best friend, Maddie - how Maddie became a pilot, how they met and how their wartime work brought them to France - interspersed with discussion of her present circumstances.

Code Name Verity is a profoundly vivid story about friendship - a beautiful, powerful friendship, the teamwork of best friends - and flying aeroplanes during WWII. And it's tense, emotional, hopeful and heartbreaking. Into-a-thousand-pieces kind of heart-breaking.

All the characters convinced me that they were real people, with flaws and depth. (I'm left feeling so strongly about them - regardless whether I adore, or want to despise, them.) The two central girls are wonderful in their own different-but-complementary ways, charismatic. Lively, amusing, determined, inclined to push at the limitations of what work women were allowed to do during the war, and prone to making literary references. I love how you really get to know them, almost slowly, through what their actions and words reveal about their characters. They're believably courageous and complex.
I couldn't get their voices out of my head.

The writing is gorgeous, especially the imagery. The foreshadowing is subtle and poignant, building themes and motifs throughout the novel, and imbuing innocuous moments with significance in hindsight. The story isn't overburdened with information regarding the war and the different locations, but the many details which are included are fascinating. And they bring the era and the places so vividly to life.
The horror is often conveyed not in explicit detail, but in matter-of-fact or off-hand comments which emphasises the sheer awfulness (that such things could become common-place for someone...!)
And, because this an emotional story about some of the horrors of war, I want to reiterate that it is about other (happier) things, too, and narrated by a young woman with a lively, wry sense of humour.

The prisoner-of-war's account is non-linear, elliptical; it's simultaneously a public confession, a story and a diary. There are gaps in her narrative - and many possibilities as to why. She doesn't have the freedom and the privacy to say whatever she wants - everything is read by her German captors, who are pressuring her to write about specific topics. I'm not hugely fond of unreliable narrators but I was intrigued by the possibility that the narrator was misleading - or lying to - her captors.
Often it's like being given puzzle pieces and having to put them together yourself. I love this sort of putting-the-pieces together in stories.

I also love that it didn't answer all of my questions, that I am left wondering about minor details (and left to imagine the characters' lives beyond the story's pages).

I'm so glad I listened to the audio book, and not just because one of the narrators has a Scottish accent. The characters' voices, with their different accents, are wonderful, of course. But it was the emotion in the narrators' voices - and such a range of emotions! - which made the story so powerful.
I also appreciate that the format forced me to take time over the story. It gave me time to speculate and ponder, and meant I couldn't easily give into temptation to skip ahead. I'm struggling to imagine how just reading the book could be anything but a lessor experience...

This is definitely an audio book I highly recommend.

(For rereading purposes, however, I would like to read it in paper format. So I ordered it. This remarkable simply because I don't normally finish a library book and immediately buy a copy for myself. I'll wait a bit, think over that decision. But not this time.)

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This story, which takes place in 1943 in Ormaie, France during the German occupation of World War II, begins with first person narration by a young(ish) female - "Verity" - who parachuted into France from Britain and was captured by the Gestapo as a spy. She has been able to defer being shot by

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promising to write out everything she knows about the British War Effort. (In addition to getting a few more weeks of life, she will also get pieces of her clothing back as she parcels out her secrets.) Thus, Code Name Verity is presented as a journal of a confession.

Verity tells her story from the viewpoint of her best friend Maddie, who happens to be the pilot who dropped her into France. Verity does this because somehow she ended up with Maddie’s ID when she was picked up. She writes “if I tell you about Maddie you’ll understand why we flew here together.”

In the course of writing about Maddie and their mission, Verity reveals her love for her best friend, and also keeps the reader apprised of what is happening to her during her imprisonment. The other prisoners despise her for her betrayal, but Verity admits to being a coward, and she has, moreover, been cruelly tortured.

Verity ends her confession by repeating over and over: “I have told the truth. I have told the truth. I have told the truth.” … And then comes Part 2.

Evaluation: This is one of those stunning books that ends up not being what it seems, which is why one should really read it twice for maximum enjoyment. I admit I didn’t like it much at first – too much detail, I thought, about planes and terrains - but I knew there had to be a reason for all the encomiums so I kept going, and was richly rewarded for it.

I liked very much the relationship between Verity and Maddie. It seemed more a matter of partner-love than friendship, but we never really know one way or the other. Nor, perhaps, do they. Either way, one couldn't help but be drawn in by the loyalty and devotion between these two young women. And these are young women one can't help but admire.

Most of all, I loved the very last paragraph, about “lace and roses” – I wish I could reproduce it here because it’s so endearing and heartrending, but it’s simply too spoilery!

Highly recommended!

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[4 and 1/2 stars]
This story of two female British operatives in Nazi-occupied France was very impressive, and also, I'm finding, very difficult to review without giving anything away! Suffice to say that I increasingly loved the two vivid central characters, and how the author managed to humanise

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even the Gestapo officers and collaborators. I think she also created, for the most part, a very strong sense of time and place, and that's another plus for me. But it's the cleverness of the narrative structure that I'm really struck by, and I'd like to re-read it again quite soon to catch all the delicately-placed clues I didn't get the first time through.

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What an amazing book - probably the finest World War Two novel I have read.

This book takes the form or two parallel narratives: one written (we eventually learn) by Julie, an aristocratic British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer who has been captured by the Nazis and is being interrogated

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by the Gestapo and the other by Maddie, the prisoner's best friend who has managed to be come accepted as a pilot.

The prisoner's narrative is particularly engaging, comprising her experiences during the war as a whole as well as the recent escapades that had led to her current predicament. her narrative seems to alternate between rage or disdain towards her captors and fond reminiscence of her friendship with Maddie. As you read on it becomes increasingly enchanting.

Maddie's narrative is equally absorbing and complements the other half of the story, and drawing the reader's attention to some crushing ironies. Growing up in the North of England and learning from an early age how to attend to motorbike engines, she had come to qualify as a pilot, and had spent much of the war delivering planes and ferrying other pilots around the country, and had succumbed to the glamour of Julie and her family.

Alternately funny and then deeply sad, the book is never less than enchanting throughout.

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Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is so much more than just a World War II novel. At heart, it's the story of a true friendship between two young women. "Verity," a wireless operator, parachutes in to Nazi-occupied France from a disabled plane flown by Maddie, her best friend. Verity is captured

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by Nazi intelligence shortly after landing. She's tortured and imprisoned, not knowing what has become of Maddie, or whether her friend is even still alive. In return for a few more torture-free days, Verity promises to write everything she knows about the British war effort. What she writes is the story of her friendship with Maddie.

If you can suspend disbelief on that one point -- that the Nazi intelligence officer would allow Verity to write such a rambling "confession" of questionable usefulness -- this is a phenomenal book. It's very hard to write anything more about it without spoiling some aspect of the story, which is by turns sweet and tragic and funny and heartbreaking. And the last couple pages brought tears to my eyes. Don't miss this book -- it's definitely earned a spot as one of my favorites of the year, and the best World War II novel I've read since The Book Thief.

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A British female spy is caught in 1943 Nazi-occupied France. She is tortured and forced to write down everything she knows that might be of use to the Nazis. She chooses to do so in the form of a third-person story about the life of her best friend Maddie, a female pilot. And then about halfway

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through the book everything you thought you knew turns on its head.

I said previously that this was not the kind of book I could get obsessed with and read straight through. I was completely wrong. Once I got halfway through (when everything changes), I sat on the floor of my apartment and read 170 pages while the cat yowled to be fed and things expired in my Netflix queue. There isn't anything I can say that will do this book justice, nor can I say much more without giving away too much. I was genuinely surprised by how excellent this book was and how much I enjoyed it. Very well written; highly recommended.

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The less you know about the contents of this book going into it, the better your reading experience will be. For CODE NAME VERITY is a truly exquisite book, one of those rare stories that will touch the heart of every reader who is fortunate enough to encounter it.

CODE NAME VERITY is fueled by the

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memorable narrative of a feisty, fiery, and fiercely intelligent and loyal character who will shoot her way to the top of your “favorite characters” list. I don’t know about you, but I go absolutely head over heels for characters who are smarter than me, those whose intelligence isn’t shoved into my face with telling sentences, but instead unfolds over the course of the book.

The book winds through flight and war terminology but transcends historical fiction with its narrator’s fun, relatable, and just basically genuine voice. I found myself practically cackling with laughter at the narrator’s numerous antics, even in her terrifying situation. Elizabeth Wein’s writing is brilliant: the pace and style of words mimic the event that the narrator is telling, long or short, dialogue vs. narration, profound vs. charming.

You’ll notice that I didn’t use any names in this review. That’s because, first of all, the war setting makes it unclear whether or not the characters are using their real names, and secondly, part of the enjoyment of this book is figuring out when characters are telling the truth and when they are not. Don’t let that—or my woefully inadequate review—deter you. Read CODE NAME VERITY; I am 99% sure you won’t regret it. Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction set in World War II and character-driven novels.

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Sometimes I think there may be something wrong with me because I'll pick up a book that has been gushed over and be all excited to dive into it and then... nothing. It falls flat for me. Completely flat - as in, I want to put it down mid-"action" and never pick it up again. Unfortunately, Code Name

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Verity was that book for me this time around.

Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on Oct. 31, 2013.

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RGG: Very confusing story about a friendship between a female pilot and a female spy in WWII German-occupied France. The amount of contextual knowledge needed about war-time England and France maye be too much for most students. The story does become compelling if one makes sense of it and sticks

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with it. Reading Level: YA+

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A pacy WWII read, using an original angle of female pilots and spies. I've yet to test my theory, but I think this book will appeal to my older readers (the book has a reading age guide of 14+) who've enjoyed Cherub and especially its prequel series: Henderson's Boys.

There's some dark content in

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this book, which pulls no punches on the treatment of Nazi-captured, Special Operations agents, in war-time France. Clearly a well-researched book, the facts were dispensed evenly, as part of the story-telling, with no obvious 'preachy bits, with lumps of learning’ - paraphrasing one of my long-term Shadowers!

I enjoyed the character development, the contrast between members of different classes of society and the way that clues to the ending were strewn throughout the story. The bonds of friendship, honour and ‘valeur’ were shown as aspirational. My favourite character was Jamie, the 'Pobble with no toes'. When he gifted his boots, his generosity resulted in helping another character both physically and psychologically.

A deftly crafted and highly memorable page-turner, a great shortlist pick and a potential 2013 Carnegie Medal winner.

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WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein is a smart and heartrending young adult novel about friendship and courage during World War II. In October, 1943 a British airplane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and a passenger, two girls who also happen to be best friends,

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have come here on a secret mission. But the mission is in danger as Nazis capture “Verity,” one of the girls, and make her write out a confession. “Verity” tells the truth, but it might not be the truth the Nazi interrogators want to hear.

THUMBS UP:

1) All worth it in the end.
“Code Name Verity” is one of those books that are very hard to evaluate. Although it is NOT a fast read and quite often it was easier for me to put the book down than pick it back up (obviously, not a good sign), I am glad I read it and would actually recommend it, as the story is thought-provoking, complex and heart-wrenching.

2) Realistic and educational.
Even though “Code Name Verity” is fictional, Wein’s thorough research made the characters, events and random details in the book seem not only plausible but also very realistic (the author also does a great job pointing all this out in the Author’s Debriefing). Reading this book I learned quite a few things about World War II, which is ALWAYS a good thing. In addition, Wein masterfully recreates wartime atmosphere, showing rather than telling the reader how horrible, pointless and unfair the war is and how such hard times bring out the best - and the worst - in people.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) Slow-paced and effortful read.
I needed to put quite some effort to get through the first two thirds of the book, mainly because there were way too many details about British air force during WWII, different types of aircraft and flying in general. It is educational, yes, but, unfortunately, not something I am particularly interested in. Later the speed picked up a little as there was more action and the puzzle pieces started coming together, but I wish the whole book was like that, not only the last hundred pages.

2) Not very engaging.
I am not a fan of war novels or historical fiction in general and I am not into spy stories or aviation either so it might be me, not you, but I found “Name Code Verity” neither thrilling nor mind-blowing. It might be due to a painfully slow beginning, but, even though towards the end there were quite a few suspenseful moments, and I even unexpectedly burst into tears a couple of times, I actually never felt fully drawn into the story. Although the characters are very realistic and multi-dimensional, I had a hard time relating to and caring about them. In the end, I was VERY surprised how much the story actually moved me, because throughout most of the book I didn’t feel like I cared at all.

3) Unrealistic format.
Although it didn’t really bother me, I cannot but notice that the story format is not very realistic. For example, I don’t think Nazi interrogators would have let anyone write a confession as a super long essay (think a few hundred pages) consisting mostly of irrelevant personal memories, insults and detailed descriptions of imprisonment experience.

VERDICT: 3 out of 5

Although“Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein is quite a slow and not very engaging read, it is a realistic, thought-provoking, complex and heart-wrenching young adult novel, which, in the end, makes your efforts worthwhile.

POST SCRIPTUM:

It’s neither an advantage nor a disadvantage, but this book doesn’t seem like a young adult novel to me, at least not in a typical way; even the protagonists seem older than usual (check out Chuck Wendig’s article "25 Things You Should Know About Young Adult Fiction” to see what I mean). On the other hand, maybe that’s why this book appeals to so many adult readers…

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Wein, E. (2012). Code name Verity. New York: Hyperion. 352 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4231-5219-4. (Hardcover); $19.99.

If there is a book to vie with Lanagan’s Brides of Rollrock Island for the Printz award, it is this complex, richly layered historical fiction featuring women pilots and spies navigating

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the dangerous skies of Nazi occupied France. Basically a plane crashes in France. Two women are involved. Verity opens the novel claiming to be a spy. She claims her life depends on how well she can supply von Linden, the Nazi Hauptsturmfuhrër (think Captain) with useful information that will help the German war effort. She tells us about Margaret Brodatt, Maddie, a young woman with an excellent internal compass and a way with engines, including aircraft engines. With a heading/name of “Verity,” obviously readers will be attempting to sort out the truth from all the partial truths and red herrings. What quickly becomes apparent is that the truth is a carefully waged war and that each “battle” changes the nature of the conflict, to the point that we don’t know Verity, pun intended. When the second narration begins, readers still hold onto the truth that there was, indeed, torture. There is a war between Germany and England—but virtually every single thing readers have carefully pieced together must be totally rebuilt. Normally, when writing a review, I am not so concerned about spoilers, but this book is so painstakingly constructed that it seems wrong to deprive readers of the chance to puzzle this one out independently. The bad news is that it will take more than one reading to ferret out all the plot twists; the good news is that you will want to read it again the second you finish! With all the books written featuring war in general, not just World War II, how many can we name that feature women? How many feature smart women playing a leading role, as brave as any man? If it were just the women characters, however, that would not be enough to see this one as an award winner. Von Linden, an educated headmaster, somewhat outside of the inner Nazi circle, is a fully fleshed out fascinating character, as are ALL the characters. The setting and atmosphere of the book feels like a movie, an Academy Award winner. We must also factor in the extremely clever use of literature to tell the story. Of special note is the PERFECT use of Peter Pan. Perfect because most teen readers will only know of the Disney version, yet the version that matches the time period, the Barrie original, is much lonelier and darker. So do yourself a favor and buy this one for yourself first. Then purchase a copy for every single English teacher you know and all of the history teachers as well. Don’t forget to purchase copies for your high school library. Heck, buy some to give as gifts, especially for any World War II history buffs. In addition to being an excellent book for smart students, this would make a fabulous adult book group title.

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I can't tell you why I love this book without spoiling the book...so.....dilemma...

I can tell you what I didn't like about the book:
1. dense piloting/airplane details
2. shifting narrative points of view (although all for a reason...although I can't tell you why..)
3. epistolary format (just a

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personal peeve)

and yet....and yet....for sheer audacity alone I recommend you read it. I'm not saying you'll love it or even that you'll like it but you'll respond to it, react to it, have an opinion over it and maybe lose some sleep thinking about it.

That's worth the price alone.

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That was Literature. Not a teen novel (although it's generally shelved/used as a teen novel), but Literature through and through.

It starts as a simple enough story. Verity has been captured by the Gestapo and been tortured by them. The story picks up after she makes a deal. She'll give them codes

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for the wireless sets that the Germans found in the plane that she crashed in, and they'll give her a paper to write out the rest of everything she knows. Oh, and they won't kill her right then or make her drink Kerosene. It's a quite rambling story, but there's enough of a structure that once you get into its flow the narrative makes sense.

The second part of the book is told from Maddie's point of view, and is done in a much more 'regular' way. Both sections are in a diary-like format, but in the first part there are interesting ways that the author approaches how she writes the characters.

It's an amazingly woven story, I think the epitome of what a story is supposed to be. There are no loose threads or hanging chads in this story, and four or five times, I read something in the second part of the book and did a double take and flipped back to the first part of it so that I could read Verity's scene again with new eyes. The thought that popped into my head about three-fourths of the way through was 'Wow, the Da Vinci code for teens'. There was only one problem with that thought through, by the end I realized that I thought this novel was vastly better written/constructed than The Da Vinci Code, and so much subtler. You have to pay attention and think to read it (A lot of times, reading media tie-ins or the more popular and general fiction there isn't much thinking involved). And to really appreciate the book the reader needs to read between the lines too.

I do have to say that it was a bit hard for me to get through it, not because it was bad, but, it was just so darn intense that I had to put it down a few times and take a break. Even its intensity was complicated. It was intense, torture, death, war, and yet it was also a weirdly detached narrative too. It was a jarring combination, but it definitely worked, and at the end when everything was coming together I couldn't have put it down if you paid me. Awesome, just awesome. Everyone, teen and above should read this!

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Two girls form an unlikely bond through the difficulties of war in this historic tale. Wein has created a story that is a historical treat and a soul wrenching nightmare. Verity tells her story from the confines of a Nazi prison where she is tortured to confess all of her secrets about British

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military operations. Through her confession we learn of her friendship with Maddie a radio operator and eventual pilot. The two girls lives are linked together through friendship and heartache as each wonders about the survival of the other. Part two of the book is told from Maddie's point of view as she searches for her friend.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Verity's situation is described in brutal detail that left me in tears several times. Just when you think you have everything figured out, a new detail emerges that makes you turn the pages faster. The torture and murder were hard to stomach at times, but when is war pretty? I was moved by the stories of both girls as they try to save each other. The added details about the war effort of that time period are an extra bonus. However, for me the continuous details about different planes did make some of the book a bit tedious and I didn't feel like it added that much to the story. It was not enough to make me discard the book. Just a minor annoying detail.

This is a great book for teens that want to see a different side of the war from a female perspective. I am glad to see a book about the seldom written effort of women in WWII. I feel that it will make readers want to find out more about that time period and the women and men that experienced it. This is an excellent selection for teens who are sick of the sparkling vampires and dystopian flops that are flooding the market.

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Opinion: The reviews and popularity are in line with my VOYA ratings. It isn't pushing an agenda which allows it to be more popular to the general audience.
Review: The first part of this book was slow because of the jerky setting, which is understandable. The second half flew by and was much more

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emotionally gripping.

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