Book Review for Code Name Verity

(NOTE: I didn’t get a free review copy of this book. I simply checked it out of the library. I also didn’t receive any remuneration — other than deep satisfaction — for reviewing this book.)

World War II.

A common English woman who loves to fly airplanes.

Her aristocratic Scottish friend who happens to be a spy.

German-occupied France.

A brutish Gestapo commander and a horrid fräulein.

Torture.

French resistance fighters.

Friendship. Loyalty. Bravery. Heroism. Fears.

Vibrant characters.

An ending that kicks you in the gut.

Toss all of that into a plot pot (boy, say THAT fast 10 times!) and have author Elizabeth Wein stir it, simmer it, add tons of spice to it, and she’ll serve up one fantastic novel to readers!

Code Name Verity is a complex novel about Maddie, a young woman who loves flying and aches to be able to fly for England’s Royal Air Force. But, because she’s a woman, she’s doomed to fly only local flights in England.

It’s about her friend, Julie, who is a wireless operator, an interrogator, a spy who speaks fluent German.

When the pilot, who was supposed to fly Julie to France in a covert nighttime flight, couldn’t make it, Maddie circumvents the rules and flies her in. Antiaircraft fire hit the plane. Julie parachutes out and Maddie makes a crash landing. The French resistance fighters endeavor to get Maddie safely back to England. Julie is captured by the Germans and is tortured in an attempt to get her to reveal her mission and information about England’s war efforts.

And that’s all I’m gonna tell you about the plot. Just the bare-bones with a promise that readers will be highly rewarded for reading the book.

This book is categorized as a young adult historical novel. Do you have any young adult grandkids — especially granddaughters? (While I think your grandsons could enjoy this book, I think that granddaughters would probably like it better because the main characters are young women.)

Do those grandkids love reading?

Then I think they will enjoy this book. I also think that YOU, Dear Readers, will love this book, too.

BUT!!!

Be forewarned that at times it’s a wee bit confusing about who is telling the story.

BUT!!!

Don’t let that stop you from reading the book!

Everything will fall into place. Trust me. All of the clues, the hints, and the twists and turns will make sense.

The smashingly complex story will grab you by your lapels, breath its hot breath in your face, and gruffly demand that you keep reading. Until. The. Very. Last. Word.

And you will.

Will your grandkids figure out how this book will end? Will you, the seasoned reader that you are?

Not even!

Like me, you won’t see what’s coming.

BUT!

You’ll keep hoping that Maddie will get out of the country. That she won’t get court-martialed. You hope that Julie will escape and make it safely back to England. That England will give her a medal for bravery. You hope that the dastardly Captain von Linden will get his comeuppance.

Have a box of tissues handy as you get to the end of the book. That gut-punching ending will empty your tear ducts a million times over.

You can get a paperback copy of this book for $8.