Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Holy smokes, this book was just what I needed! Finally a good book after I have been struggling with some less than great books these past weeks.

The story is set during World War II and follows two British women who both work in the war effort. The book had me gripped tight right from the start, the writing is beautiful and the story is compelling. 

I feel like I shouldn't give too much away about the plot, but basically the two women end up in France behind enemy lines. One of them is caught and questioned by the Gestapo, and she must reveal her mission or face torture. 

Beware of spoiler-ish notes below!!!

The book is divided into two parts. The first is like a set up of the story and telling how Verity came to be in the Gestapo headquarters. During the entirety of this part the author had me questioning if Verity really was telling the truth or if she was somehow trying to cheat the Gestapo and buy more time for herself. But the story she told, the information she gave away and the consequences she suffered for trying to hide certain facts, just made me think she really was giving up everything she knew. But it kept me guessing at every turn of the page.

The second part of the book tells more of the story from a different perspective and you start to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and making sense of what you had been guessing about in the first part.

The characters were really well written and the two women had distinct voices when telling their stories. There were only a very few side characters of note, but that didn't really matter, as the story of the two women were at the heart of the book. What little side characters there were, were also well written and added just enough life and colour to make the story more enticing, but not to steal the show from the main plot. 

The plot itself was well paced, with beautiful descriptions of the various sceneries, and action mixed with more emotional scenes. 

It is an interesting story, but not perhaps a happy one, and it does have some brutal moments. It had me teary-eyed at the end, which doesn't often happen, so that must mean it's a good'un! I would recommend this to just about anyone, and I am definitely going to pick up the companion novel Rose Under Fire. 

I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads (which also doesn't happen very often!)