Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Oct. 13th, 2013 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
I have two weeks.
You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
11th October 1943 A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a shot at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.
Devastating, shocking, compelling and inspiring – once read, never forgotten.
It’s 8th October 1943. Verity, a British spy captured in occupied France, has made a deal with her Gestapo interrogators. In return for their stopping the torture and returning her clothes, she’ll tell them British radio codes and everything she knows about the British war effort. She has a fortnight to write her tale. She knows that they’ll shoot her once she’s done. So she starts at the beginning, in happier times, when she worked as a radio operator for the RAF and became friends with a fellow operator called Maddy who dreamed of being a pilot ...
Elizabeth Wein’s YA historical thriller is a gripping read that focuses on the contribution that women made to the war effort as pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary and agents for the Special Operations Executive. Although it took me a while to get into (mainly because the confession set-up feels a little artificial at the start), it’s a gripping read with strong themes of friendship and immense personal courage and it’s a notable rarity in YA fiction as neither main character is a teenager. If I’m going to nitpick then I’d say there are a few anachronisms within the dialogue and I’m not 100% convinced that the characters would have known about the concentration camps, but this didn’t prevent my enjoyment of the book and I immediately went out to buy the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE.
The book’s divided into two sections, beginning with Verity’s confession. Wein does a great job here of alternating between Verity’s current predicament with her account of happier times and the affect that the confessional is having on her. Wein doesn’t shy away from recounting the physical and psychological torture that Verity’s been subjected to but focuses on the effects rather than gory description. The second section switches the focus to Maddy. I won’t spoil the plot details here but again, Wein cleverly examines the psychological effects and consequences of the situations these young women have been placed in.
Wein’s clearly done a lot of research (there’s a useful bibliography at the end) but I spotted a couple of anachronisms within the dialogue and she sometimes stretches facts to fit the narrative (which isn’t unusual and didn’t spoil my enjoyment). Ultimately though it’s an excellent, gripping story that I’d strongly recommend and I’ve already lined up the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE to read next.
The Verdict:
Elizabeth Wein’s YA historical thriller is a gripping read that focuses on the contribution that women made to the war effort as pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary and agents for the Special Operations Executive. Although it took me a while to get into (mainly because the confession set-up feels a little artificial at the start), it’s a gripping read with strong themes of friendship and immense personal courage and it’s a notable rarity in YA fiction as neither main character is a teenager. If I’m going to nitpick then I’d say there are a few anachronisms within the dialogue and I’m not 100% convinced that the characters would have known about the concentration camps, but this didn’t prevent my enjoyment of the book and I immediately went out to buy the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE.
You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
11th October 1943 A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a shot at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.
Devastating, shocking, compelling and inspiring – once read, never forgotten.
It’s 8th October 1943. Verity, a British spy captured in occupied France, has made a deal with her Gestapo interrogators. In return for their stopping the torture and returning her clothes, she’ll tell them British radio codes and everything she knows about the British war effort. She has a fortnight to write her tale. She knows that they’ll shoot her once she’s done. So she starts at the beginning, in happier times, when she worked as a radio operator for the RAF and became friends with a fellow operator called Maddy who dreamed of being a pilot ...
Elizabeth Wein’s YA historical thriller is a gripping read that focuses on the contribution that women made to the war effort as pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary and agents for the Special Operations Executive. Although it took me a while to get into (mainly because the confession set-up feels a little artificial at the start), it’s a gripping read with strong themes of friendship and immense personal courage and it’s a notable rarity in YA fiction as neither main character is a teenager. If I’m going to nitpick then I’d say there are a few anachronisms within the dialogue and I’m not 100% convinced that the characters would have known about the concentration camps, but this didn’t prevent my enjoyment of the book and I immediately went out to buy the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE.
The book’s divided into two sections, beginning with Verity’s confession. Wein does a great job here of alternating between Verity’s current predicament with her account of happier times and the affect that the confessional is having on her. Wein doesn’t shy away from recounting the physical and psychological torture that Verity’s been subjected to but focuses on the effects rather than gory description. The second section switches the focus to Maddy. I won’t spoil the plot details here but again, Wein cleverly examines the psychological effects and consequences of the situations these young women have been placed in.
Wein’s clearly done a lot of research (there’s a useful bibliography at the end) but I spotted a couple of anachronisms within the dialogue and she sometimes stretches facts to fit the narrative (which isn’t unusual and didn’t spoil my enjoyment). Ultimately though it’s an excellent, gripping story that I’d strongly recommend and I’ve already lined up the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE to read next.
The Verdict:
Elizabeth Wein’s YA historical thriller is a gripping read that focuses on the contribution that women made to the war effort as pilots for the Air Transport Auxiliary and agents for the Special Operations Executive. Although it took me a while to get into (mainly because the confession set-up feels a little artificial at the start), it’s a gripping read with strong themes of friendship and immense personal courage and it’s a notable rarity in YA fiction as neither main character is a teenager. If I’m going to nitpick then I’d say there are a few anachronisms within the dialogue and I’m not 100% convinced that the characters would have known about the concentration camps, but this didn’t prevent my enjoyment of the book and I immediately went out to buy the companion novel ROSE UNDER FIRE.
