Code Name Verity is the sixth novel by British author, Elizabeth Wein. It tells the story of a pair of British women who crash-landed in France during World War Two. The first part is narrated by Queenie aka Scottie aka Eva Seiler aka….., a Special Operations Executive agent, and is written under duress at Gestapo HQ in the town of Ormaie in November 1943. SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Amadeus von Linden has forced from Queenie wireless code for the eleven wireless sets found in the wreck of the plane from which she jumped. What then follows, at his command, is Queenie’s account of the course of events that led to their flight to France and incorporates in that her friendship with Maddie Brodatt, the pilot of the downed plane. The second part gives Maddie’s version of events, and reveals that perhaps one of the narrators is not entirely reliable. Wein’s characters are multi-faceted and realistic: they all have their weaknesses and faults; even the evil ones possess a human side; many are not quite what they first seem. The dialogue, too, is credible and the plot is totally plausible, twists, turns and all. Wein’s extensive research is apparent on every page: a wealth of information is secreted in the story in easily digestible form. There is humour, heroism and horror, and enough heartbreak to bring a lump to the throat of even the most cynical reader. This is a tale of friendship and courage that is interesting, informative and ultimately, very moving

You know those rare books, that are just so completely bookish that they make you excited about the power of words on a page, and how they can blow your mind in a way that a movie never could come close to... well that's Code Name Verity.

If someone were to tell me that this were to be made in a movie, I would probably scoff and say that it wasn't possible. That or have a complete tantrum about how they'd butcher it because the big screen wouldn't be able to capture the complexities or the ingenious that is Verity.

Code Name Verity is about a Scottish (not English) spy that is captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Nazi Germans. Under the intense pain of torture, she agrees to write a full account betraying her knowledge of the British War Effort in which she was a pilot.

Elizabeth Wein completely blew my mind with this novel. The subject matter was controversial, it didn't shy on the violence or horrors of torture, and yet through the meta-fiction of Verity's account, she masterfully creates this world of escape that artfully divulges information of the war from the perspective of Verity's best friend Maddie. SS-Hauptsturmfhrer von Linden, her torturer and supervisor, indulges her literary angle to informing, so this novel details Verity's attempts to wrestle her guilt with betraying her country against her instinct of self-preservation. At first, I found the novel quite slow. There were long passages on air routes and plane models, it was all very dreary and didn't catch my attention. However, the description was so vivid and rich, you experience the ecstasy of flying with Maddie, and with Verity, experience the wondrous escape of literature. I persisted and persisted and then, the plot exploded and it was suddenly a matter of trying to keep up. Sleep? what sleep.

You won't understand until you read this novel, and anything more would be considered a spoiler. But have I mentioned that this book is absolutely ingenious? Goodness gracious. Go read it. It's sort of like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (or any great thriller really) in that the first half seems quite boring and irrelevant, and you can't see where the author is going with it until it's obvious, and then the novel becomes mind blowing and you need everyone to read it so you can talk about what happened and - and then praise Elizabeth Wein for her infinite wisdom.