Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Release date: May 15, 2012
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 327
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads: {via}
Summary:
Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.
Review:
Oh my word. I've been sitting here for several minutes trying to figure out how to go about writing this review. And it is so hard. I feel like whatever I say, I won't be able to do this book justice. It's deep, it's intense and it's so good.
Code Name Verity tells the story of two friends. Two best friends who are thrown together under not normal circumstances. War does weird things to countries, to people and to allegiances. This is the world that we're thrust into in Elizabeth Wein's Verity.
Wein has created two amazing characters that will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Verity, a Scottish well-to-do lady, is a spy. She's been captured, and right off the bat, we're informed that she's writing her confession. It's the only way that she knows she can stay alive. She's in fact writing her life story during the war, giving the Nazis precious details. Most of these details center around her best friend and pilot, Maddie. Maddie and Verity (known as Queenie) would never have crossed paths had it not been for WWII. Queenie tells the reader what's going on in present day using her voice, but switches to third person, and focuses in on Maddie while doing her recitation.
Honestly, I found this kind of hard to get into, but once you get the hang of it (really, hang in there... it gets so good...) you'll be glad you did. Queenie is not the most reliable narrator, as she freely admits to making up names, specific plane parts and some details. That being said, this book is chock full of details and descriptions, which made for slow reading for me. I didn't want to miss anything, and really wanted to soak in said details, fearing that if I sped through the reading, I might miss something critical. I feel like this is one of those books that you can read over and over again, and find something new hidden within the intricate layers. New clues, if you will.
I know this review hasn't really said much of anything, but I'm desperately trying not to give anything away. It really blossoms into a novel that tells a remarkable story. No one can tell you about the piece, you just have to experience it for yourself.
Go read it. Now.
I received a copy of this e-galley courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. This in no way impacted my review of this book.
Code Name Verity tells the story of two friends. Two best friends who are thrown together under not normal circumstances. War does weird things to countries, to people and to allegiances. This is the world that we're thrust into in Elizabeth Wein's Verity.
Wein has created two amazing characters that will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Verity, a Scottish well-to-do lady, is a spy. She's been captured, and right off the bat, we're informed that she's writing her confession. It's the only way that she knows she can stay alive. She's in fact writing her life story during the war, giving the Nazis precious details. Most of these details center around her best friend and pilot, Maddie. Maddie and Verity (known as Queenie) would never have crossed paths had it not been for WWII. Queenie tells the reader what's going on in present day using her voice, but switches to third person, and focuses in on Maddie while doing her recitation.
Honestly, I found this kind of hard to get into, but once you get the hang of it (really, hang in there... it gets so good...) you'll be glad you did. Queenie is not the most reliable narrator, as she freely admits to making up names, specific plane parts and some details. That being said, this book is chock full of details and descriptions, which made for slow reading for me. I didn't want to miss anything, and really wanted to soak in said details, fearing that if I sped through the reading, I might miss something critical. I feel like this is one of those books that you can read over and over again, and find something new hidden within the intricate layers. New clues, if you will.
I know this review hasn't really said much of anything, but I'm desperately trying not to give anything away. It really blossoms into a novel that tells a remarkable story. No one can tell you about the piece, you just have to experience it for yourself.
Go read it. Now.
I received a copy of this e-galley courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. This in no way impacted my review of this book.
I've read and seen bits about this book here and there, and it sounds like it may be huge!
ReplyDeleteIt's so twisty, and so many turns, that it's fabulous.
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