Book Review: Code Name Verity

Our March book was Code Name Verity By Elizabeth Wein, published 2012.

Firstly thank you everyone who braved the elements of torrential rain to attend.10/10 everyone.

Set in 1943.A British spy plane crashes in Nazi occupied France.The female pilot and female passenger are the best of friends. It is a young adult historical fiction novel written by an American author.The spy Julie codename Verity is captured by the Nazis. She is forced to write a confession, giving details of the British war effort. She writes this in the form of a novel. This is the opening of the book.The narrative is told in 2 parts from the friends perspective.

The second part is from Maddie, codename Kittyhawk. She is rescued by the French resistance and attempts to find and rescue Julie.The novel ends dramatically when Maddie kills Julie to prevent her from more torture.It is an ending that is shocking and not at all predictable.The dreaded and feared Engel has a conflict of conscience and eventually helps the resistance to destroy the Nazi headquarters.

It was a generally well received book.It was considered a difficult book to become interested in initially.The second part was to be its redeeming factor as it was easier to read and came alive.It had far to much technical detail which became somewhat tedious.It was stated that historical fiction doesn't always ring true, added to this was the fact it was aimed at young adults, the language was modern but the historical date was 1943,a definite mismatch here.

Some members were shocked that youngsters were reading novels with graphic details and depiction of cowardice, horror and torture,  but they are probably far more sophisticated now than previous generations, and therefore a very suitable read. All agreed the 2 main protagonists were extremely likeable characters. Finally Engel is the German word for Angel. Engel it was agreed if not quite an angel in the novel certainly found some form of redemption.

Would we recommend it? Probably not as it is quite niche. 6/10 scored.Next month's read is: Missing Presumed.By Susie Steiner. Enjoy.  X