Sunday, January 21, 2018

Code Name Verity


Elizabeth Wein's novel, Code Name Verity, is one of those books that everyone was reading a few years ago. It appealed to me, I got a copy, and then let it sit on the shelf until last week when I decided to give it a whirl.

It was wonderful--set in England during WWII, it is a non-traditional novel--no chapters but rather is broken into two parts. The first part is a confession by a female British spy, captured in Occupied France, in which she tells the story of her best friend, Maddie, a female pilot in the Air Transport. The second part is a report that Maddie writes, telling her side of the story. Both characters are absolutely marvelous--courageous, resourceful, practical, and loyal.

I really liked how the two friends were from different worlds--upper crust Scottish gentry and Manchester factory. They acknowledge that in peacetime they would never have met, much less been best friends.

It is suspenseful and cleverly written so that the reader never quite knows what to believe about what the two young women are saying until the end. It's quite difficult to write a review without giving away plot and character details that are so much more fun to discover as a reader than to know about ahead of time.

I gave it 5 stars on GoodReads--read up on author Elizabeth Wein, and am ordering the second in the Young Pilots Series, Rose Under Fire.

I absolutely love reading about WWII flying these days. My dad was an WWII RAF pilot and in typical fashion of his generation, didn't talk much about his wartime experiences, so these books help me understand what his life and work were like during the war.

I searched to see whether a movie was in the making, because it would make a terrific movie, and didn't find any current news, but I did find some fantastic fan art. Here is a sample that does a wonderful job in communicating the gist of the novel.




10 comments:

  1. This made me think of Verity from Poldark, but no matter: this sounds like an interesting novel!

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    1. Me too! Verity from Poldark is one of my favorite characters.

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  2. I loved Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire is (in my opinion) even better. Such good books!

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  3. This sounds terrific. I share your interest in World War II aviation. The plot and structure of this book also sound good. It does sound like it would make a good film.

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  4. I always meant to read this book when it first came out, but I never did. And then I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! :)

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  5. This sounds intriguing. I love WWII novels, but I really like the unique format of the book as well. I just added it to my to read list - thanks for the great review!

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  6. I also heard lots of good things about this book. And you make it sound even more tempting now!

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  7. That sounds like a really good book. I love that time period in history!

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  8. Yeah I need to put this back on my list. Thx for pushing it. Sounds too good to pass up.

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  9. Thanks for writing about this. I’d heard of it but hadn’t written the name of the book down or the author so I would remember it. Sounds great & I love anything WW2!

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