Code Name Verity

by Elizabeth Wein

Ebook, 2012

Library's rating

Library's review

I've had this one on my wishlist for a long time, since I first started reading very positive reviews here on LT. For the first chapter or two, I was wondering what the fuss was all about, but then the story and the characters caught hold of my imagination and didn't let go until I'd turned the

final page. A working-class young woman from Manchester puts her passion for flying to good use with the Air Transport Auxiliary, helping the British military by ferrying planes and servicemen between bases. She forms an unlikely but unbreakable friendship with an aristocratic Scots woman whose war work takes an even more dangerous turn, serving as an espionage agent in Occupied France. Their stories remain intertwined through joy and tragedy. Author Wein tells the tale through each woman's viewpoint, developing layers upon layers of story and characterization. I ended up caring very much about Julie and Maddie, and was sorry to see the book come to an end. There is apparently a sequel, but it's hard to see how it could improve upon the original.

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Description

In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.

Media reviews

Booklist

If you pick up this book, it will be some time before you put your dog-eared, tear-stained copy back down. Wein succeeds on three fronts: historical verisimilitude, gut-wrenching mystery, and a first-person voice of such confidence and flair that the protagonist might become a classic character if

only we knew what to call her. Alternately dubbed Queenie, Eva, Katharina, Verity, or Julie depending on which double-agent operation she's involved in, she pens her tale as a confession while strapped to a chair and recovering from the latest round of Gestapo torture. The Nazis want the codes that Julie memorized as a wireless operator, and she supplies them, but along the way also tells of her fierce friendship with Maddie, a British pilot. Though delivered at knifepoint, Julie's narrative is peppered with dark humor and minor acts of defiance, and the tension that builds up is practically unbearable.

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