JonS reviewed Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Review of 'Code Name Verity' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is a tremendous book.
It tells the story of two young women in World War 2, one a pilot and one who becomes an SOE agent. It's no real spoiler to say that the latter, the eponymous 'Verity', winds up in the hands of the Gestapo, as this is revealed on the first page anyway. This stands as a warning to all potential readers that there are some harrowing passages, and Wein's writing doesn't shrink from the awfulness but also doesn't overload us with it or overindulge in gory detail. However, there is also a great deal of joy in this book, which shines all the brighter against the dark background.
This is a war story, but it's certainly not just for the genre afficionados. Above all it's a story of friendship and love—not sexual or romantic love but the deep love of two people from very different backgrounds …
This is a tremendous book.
It tells the story of two young women in World War 2, one a pilot and one who becomes an SOE agent. It's no real spoiler to say that the latter, the eponymous 'Verity', winds up in the hands of the Gestapo, as this is revealed on the first page anyway. This stands as a warning to all potential readers that there are some harrowing passages, and Wein's writing doesn't shrink from the awfulness but also doesn't overload us with it or overindulge in gory detail. However, there is also a great deal of joy in this book, which shines all the brighter against the dark background.
This is a war story, but it's certainly not just for the genre afficionados. Above all it's a story of friendship and love—not sexual or romantic love but the deep love of two people from very different backgrounds who would probably never have met in peacetime but are thrown together by the upheavals of war.
There are some startling plot twists which only reveal themselves in the second half. I'm not always a fan of plot twists, as they can appear to be thrown in just to 'keep readers on their toes' but there is nothing gratuitous about these.
If I have one quibble, it's that it's labelled as 'Young Adult'. Not that it's unsuitable for young adults, it is, but I worry that this tag may put off older readers who would also love this book.
I took it in as an audiobook and it's beautifully done by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell.
