The Pearl Thief (Code Name Verity #0-Prequel) by Elizabeth Wein

The Pearl Thief (Code Name Verity #0-Prequel) by Elizabeth Wein-326 pages

I have read both Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire and wanted to read this when I heard about it. Honestly, I do not think this is as good as either of those, but it is still pretty good. Julia Beaufort-Stuart (as a 15, nearly 16 year-old) is back home from boarding school and befriends some Travellers (people who live in tents in fields/nomads/gypsies) who have been living in the field on her late grandfather's old Strathfearn property in Scotland. Her grandfather (and the Travellers) are river pearl hunters and her grandfather left a rather large collection of them when he died (only it wasn't found right off). For a while, the story was a bit slow, but a few plot twists and turns in the middle and, especially, near the end livened the story a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good read, if not as good as Wein's other two in the "series."

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein-368* pages

I read Code Name Verity in Summer 2015 for the Teen Services class I was taking during Library school and it was a good read. I decided I wanted to read this for historical fiction month. It is an even better read. Rose Justice is an American Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilot in Britain during WWII and works with Maddie (one of the protagonists from Code Name Verity). On her way back to Britain from one of her transport flights, Rose is captured by Nazis/Germans and eventually sent to Ravensbruck. The atrocities that took place at the hands of the Nazis there (and at all of the concentration camps) are appalling. Many things that we take for granted today were barely considerations for them (freely going to the bathroom/working toilets is one thing). "Prisoners" were experimented on (infected with disease, operated on, had bones and/or muscles removed, etc.), beaten with whips, shot on a whim, gassed, forced to stand for hours or days at a time, and given very little to eat. Many of the women (and men) at Ravensbruck and all of the camps who survived were skeletons of their former selves (in many cases both physically and emotionally). Wein's story about Rose is good because it tells a story that needs told (continually so that no one forgets) and it is well-written and told well. Although it is a work of fiction, I felt as if I were there with Rose and the other women at Ravensbruck and that is the mark of a good work. Overall, it was a good read, though not easy at times. I would recommend it to anyone (though be prepared for sad moments).

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - 368

This companion book to Code Name Verity tells the story of Rose Justice, an American serving as a British Air Transport Auxiliary pilot.  She comes to Britain in 1944, shorty after Code Name Verity ends and works with Maddie Brodartt.  Like Maddie and Julie, Rose finds herself forced down on a flight over continental Europe and, like Julie, she becomes a German prisoner.  She is sent to the Ravensbruck Concentration camp as a political prisoner.  While there, Rose faces many hardships but makes some new friends in the process.  Like with Code Name Verity, the main theme of the book is friendships and the relationships between people.  As for the descriptions of camp life, well, pick a non-fiction book for a full description; this just did not cut it compared to other titles I have read, both fiction and non-fiction.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - 343

Code Name Verity is a story about two young British women during World War II.  It opens with Julie telling her story in the third-person from her friend Maggie's view.  Julie is writing about her life since the war began to please her German captures after she is captured in France while working with the Resistance.  Maggie, a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary, is the one who flew Julie into France and is presumed missing when her plane is found crashed and burned.  However, is all as it seems?  Code Name Verity is filled with interesting twist and turns which show anything is possible in wartime.

Besides the historical angle, which seems fairly accurate (in reality, women pilots were not allowed to fly to the Continent), the story is more about friendship and how it grows and survives during unimaginable circumstances.  I enjoyed the book (I did think the similarly-themed adult book Trapeze was better) and plan to reads it's companion book, Rose Under Fire next.