Title: Code Name Verity

Author: Elizabeth Wein 

Genre: Young Adult, Historical

Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity is the story of a British spy named Julie, or Queenie, or Verity; whichever one you prefer. Julie gets captured in 1943, Nazi-occupied France, where our story begins. Her captor, a man named Von Linden, gives her two weeks to give up as much information she can on the British war effort. Though, as Julie recounts, “the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France – and Allied Invasion of Two. We are a sensational team”. Thus begins a long story recounting how Julie and her pilot friend Maddie (code name Kittyhawk) came to meet each other and become friends. 

The story is really a wonderful depiction of how the war was from another perspective. So many times we hear the stories of the soldier who saved lives on the field, but it was really refreshing to hear it from Julie’s point of view. It paints an eerie picture of just how dark being taken prisoner during World War Two really was, and how much it can break someone’s spirit. Julie so quickly goes from making snarky and sarcastic comments to contemplating that “there’s no efficient way to kill yourself with a dressmaker’s pin (I wouldn’t call contracting gangrene an efficient way to kill yourself)—I puzzled over it for a long time, seeing as they’d left the pins there, but it’s just not possible”. The narrative switches from first person to third person quite a lot. The first person would be Julie recounting her times as a prisoner, and experiences such as her hair being washed with kerosene and commentary on her prison guard, Engel. The third person is of Maddie, talking about how she joined the war, how she met Julie (formerly Queenie), and how the two became part of the war effort. 

Another subject that it touches beautifully on is friendship. Julie and Maddie meet under impossible circumstances, and become the closest of friends. The admiration and adoration Julie has for Maddie is evident in the way she writes about her, never a word of disrespect is written. Julie’s statement of “It’s like being in love, finding your best friend” is the perfect way to summarize her feelings towards Maddie, and vice versa. It’s interesting to read how two individuals can find friendship among the times of suffering and war, and seeing their friendship grow is truly heartwarming. 

Personally, I really enjoyed this book. The beginning was a bit hard to get in to, as a lot of the military slang was new to me, but I was soon hooked. I’m not too sure if it was the suspense of Von Linden breathing down Julie’s neck, or the plot of Maddie and Julie becoming friends while also fighting in a war. The historical points in it were fascinating, and I actually learned quite a lot about women’s roles in the war, as well as how the technology had changed  from then to now. Overall, I would definitely recommend it for those who are up for reading something not entirely light hearted, but captivating and suspenseful at times.

Read you later,

Sincerely, Me