Code Name Verity

Title: Code Name Verity, I have told the truth

Author: Elizabeth Wain

Genre: Fiction

The first part of the book takes place in November of 1943 and is narrated by Julie Stuart, aka Verity, who is a British spy who has been captured by the Nazis in Ormaie- a fictional city in Nazi-occupied France. When she is being held there, she writes her "confession," laying out all that she knows about the British war effort in exchange for better treatment from the Nazis. From the beginning, she confesses that she is a coward and that she would tell the Nazis everything she knows to prevent them from torturing her even more. She has already endured severe torture. She was given two weeks to write her confession, and then she would be sent to a concentration camp or she would be executed. In explaining what she knows about the British war efforts, particularly their air force, Julie begins telling the story of her best friend, Margaret "Maddie" Brodatt, a pilot.

The two women met in 1938 during their war work as radio operators, and they soon became best friends. Because of their skilled talents, Maddie and Julie were both marked for secret work. Maddie becomes a pilot with the Special Operations Executive or SEO for short. On the other hand, Julie becomes a translator for secret interrogations, or so Maddie thinks. Julie later confesses to Maddie that she is actually the lead interrogator who sniffs out double agents, working under the name Eva Seiler. Because of her success as an interrogator, the SEO plans to train her well enough and then drop her behind enemy lines. When the time comes for her to be dropped off behind enemy lines, Maddie is the pilot who flies her to France. Their plane gets damaged by enemy planes. So Maddie held the plane steady so Julie could parachute out. Julie is later shown pictures of Maddies burned plane, and she believes that Maddie is dead. Julie's narrative stops, leaving the readers that there is more to her story than he didn't say.

The novel's second part is narrated by Maddie, aka Kittyhawk, between October 11 and December 11, 1943. Maddie miraculously survives the crash landing in France and works with the French Resistance to help find Julie and complete her mission. Learning about Julie's plan to blow up the Gestapo HQ, the Resistance sabotages the prison transfer as Julie is to be transported to a concentration camp. Unable to free Julie, Maddie faces an impossible choice as Julie requests her friend to end her life quickly rather than let her suffer at the hands of the Nazis. In an attempt to avenge her friend's death, Maddie works to complete Julie's mission. Reading Julie's "confession," Maddie realizes that Julie didn't give away any information and played an elaborate double game. The members of the Resistance circuit, Damask, succeed in blowing up the Gestapo HQ. After returning to England, Maddie sends the written record of their experiences in France to Julie's mother, as she deserves to know exactly what happened.

I liked this book because it was very heartwarming and emotional. For example, the part when Julie asked Maddie to take her life made me very emotional. I also liked the book because Elizabeth Wain was able to add plot twists that shocked the audience and made the book more interesting.

If you read this book and liked it, you should try reading:

I must betray you by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea By Ruta Sepetys

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wain