Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity is hands down one of the best Young Adult books I have read in a long time. Elizabeth Wein has created a story that is both engaging and heart breaking. It is a story of friendship and loss, with the stories of two best friends so perfectly interwoven that the end, when it comes, is completely unexpected.

Code Name Verity  begins in England just after the beginning of the Second World War. We are introduced to our two young protagonists through the writings  of a young woman who has been captured by the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) in occupied France. She describes the unlikely meeting between two even unliklier friends. Maddie, is a young woman who wants nothing more than to spend her life in the air, flying any kind of airplane she can get her hands on. From rural England Maddie has spent her childhood living with her Grandparents who have encouraged her to make use of her natural mechanic ability. Once the war begins, England needs every pilot they can get their hands on and Maddie begins flying with regularity, saving the behinds of several male flight crews and gaining the respect of everyone she works with and the notice of Air Transport Auxiliary  who need pilots to ferry British spies.

Queenie is a member of the Scottish aristocracy who because of her innate ability as an actress and her perfect German has been recruited as a spy. The first half of the book is written from her perspective, and it is from her that we learn everything we know of Maddie and their relationship. We also learn of how Queenie ended up in occupied France and why she is writing down the story of their friendship. 

To be perfectly honest the beginning of the book with difficult to get into, however once the story begins to emerge it caught me hook, line and sinker and I couldn’t put it down. The facts were so well researched that they faded into the background, allowing the reader to concentrate on the story rather than on the historical background. Elizabeth Wein has certainly outdone herself with this book. I highly recommend the read. It is certainly a difficult subject though so keep that in mind if picking the book.

Enjoy!