Code name Verity

Full review at SFF Book Review.

This came highly recommended from all corners of the internet.
As superb as the writing and the story were, I seem to be the only person who didn't feel the friendship between Maddie and “Verity” as strongly. This would have been a perfect book if there had been more time to establish the strong bond between the protagonists.

Having the bad out of the way, let me tell you why you should absolutely read it anyway. It is a wonderful story about a female pilot during World War II and a female spy. They are best friends and show us the war through their eyes. It is suspenseful, it is tragic (as war stories tend to be), and it has moments of sheer brilliance.

It wasn't perfect, but still an excellent read.

8/10

A very intricate plot, dribbling out information in the form of a journal/confession written by a captured British female pilot during WWII. The writer of the journal has been captured by the Nazis in occupied France and she is supposed to be writing down all she knows about the British war effort–codes, bases, etc. In defiance, she keeps writing about her friendship with another female pilot, how they came to be part of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and just enough possibly relevant information that her SS torturers keep her alive rather than sending her off for “experimental uses” at the concentration camp in Ravensbruck.

Lots of plot twists and “a-ha” moments make you want to go back and read the book a second time as soon as you're finished, but the characters are developed enough that the conclusion still feels emotionally wrenching. I initially was hesitant to read this because it is labeled Young Adult. I'm not sure why this label was used because the themes and characters appeal to adults as well. From what I understand, it is being made into a movie.

The author has done a lot of research on these WAAF pilots and because she is a pilot herself, the flight mechanics and dialogue all ring true. A bibliography at the end gives you plenty of books to add to your TBR pile if you want to know more.

There are quite a few Young Adult novels based on the stories of people during the years of the Second World War. Several of these have become huge bestsellers are they are often sought out as books to be studied within the classroom such as The Book Thief and The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. I'd heard really good things about Code Name Verity and as it's been a little while since I read a Second World War book in this genre I decided it might be nice to see whether it could be a valuable read for my 11-year-old who is going to be studying this time period at school.

This is an interesting book told through the eyes of a Gestapo prisoner in Nazi occupied France. Initially, we know very little about our narrator other than she is a British prisoner, although as she reminds us frequently she is, in fact, Scottish which I found quite amusing as being Scottish myself I know the pains we will go to in order to not be regarded as English. It is clear she has given in under pressures of interrogation and is now writing down what she knows about the allied war effort, the kinds of planes we use, where our air bases are and radio codes that we use for transmitting messages. As she tells us she is a coward, she has bought herself an extra two weeks of life in order to share all the knows with the Germans but ultimately she knows she will die at the hands of her captors.

As the story progresses we find that her way of telling what she knows about the war is both humorous, insightful and written through her experiences during the war. She is often scathing about the Germans who hold her, she is telling her story her way and sometimes this leads to her being punished for the things she says. There is lots of information about flying and the aircraft used during the war but if you can cut through this fundamentally this is the story of a young pilot Maddie who is as capable as any man at flying but during the war she is used for ground duties and eventually for ferrying planes around the UK for repair and to collect aircraft personnel. The story is Maddie's and that of her best friend Queenie who she meets during her training. They are two people who outwith the confines of the war would never be friends. Maddie is the granddaughter of a Jewish bike seller whilst Queenie is a Scottish aristocrat from a large family with a title and immense wealth.

This story is really touching and we are given more information slowly throughout the first two thirds of the book where our prisoner tells us about how she comes to be in Occupied France and how this links to the stories of Queenie and Maddie. We know it won't have a happy ending but the story is heartbreaking and engaging and the further into the book you go the more entrancing the story becomes.

The last third of the book is told by a different narrator, Maddie. In this part of the book we fill in the blanks that our Gestapo prisoner was unable to tell us and it is in this section that we learn the whole truth about the novel and as it ended I was left breathless by how cleverly crafted the story had been and how people will find the strengh to rise to challenges they never could have faced if not forced to do so through wartime.

A wonderful novel it is a great read, I wouldn't recommend it for very young pre-teen readers but I'd say that the content would be fine for ages 13 and above. I also imagine that the often long descriptions of flights and aircraft may put some readers off who find themselves bogged down in this and unable to cut through it to the heart and soul of the story. I can understand perhaps why it's not used as a school text as often as others of a similar genre.

I really enjoyed this book but I'd still say Prisoner of Night & Fog remains my favourite Young Adult WWII novel.

I'm obsessed with this book. I love historical espionage and generally hate young adult fiction, so I was afraid my beloved genre was going to be perverted by love triangles and simplistic, linear narratives. But that was certainly not the case. The characters are complex (sometimes heart-breakingly so)and the story is intricate and historically accurate. I can completely see Virginia Hall and Christina Granville living in the same universe as the characters in the book

I was completely captivated! When I first started I almost put it down, not usually one for this kind of story structure, but by page three I just NEEDED to know how it ended. One of those stories you keep thinking about when you're not reading. I was so sad to see it end. Can't wait to read more by this author!

I was quite pleasantly surprised by this book. It is in short, quite wonderful.
Code Name Verity defies easy description. It is filled with action, danger, tragedy, horror, and some comedy. The story is told in the form of journals written by the two main protagonists (a bit of an odd format, but it works quite well). The story is set in the 1940's in wartime Britain and France, and the war sets much of the tone and rhythm of the story. However, it is much more than a war story. At its core, it is the story of a powerful friendship between two young women who were caught up in the turmoil of that war. These girls, Maddie and Queenie, come from very different socioeconomic backgrounds and would probably never have met in normal times. But the crucible of war tosses Queenie the agent and Maddie the aviator together and forges a strong bond.
I wrote quite a bit more about the story, but then deleted it all because it seems to me that almost any details I could give might spoil the impact for the reader. I'll just say: good book, read it.

I wasn't sure if this would live up to the hype, and I don't usually like realistic war novels.

But it lived up to the hype & I like realistic war novels when they're this one.

I mean, Jesus, I don't know what to say. Verity and Maddie were such wonderfully realized characters, and their friendship was beautiful to read about. The adversity of war was heartwrenching, as it should be, of course.

The story of two British girls during WWII, who are best friends, and end up getting separated while on a spy mission in France. I did not connect to the main characters, as it felt they were never fully fleshed out. Also, the narration style was irritating, the first part being a written-down diary that also served as a war confession, but mostly reads as a stream of thought. I was waiting for there to be a bigger reveal that would explain that character's style of writing, but I don't think we got one, besides her trying stretch time by gushing away? Btw 2 and 3 stars.