Code Name Verity is a compelling, emotionally rich story with universal themes of friendship and loyalty, heroism and bravery.
 
Two young women from totally different backgrounds are thrown together during World War II: one a working-class girl from Manchester, the other a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a wireless operator. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends. But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in "Verity's" own words, as she writes her account for her captors.

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Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal

“This heart-in-your-mouth adventure has it all: a complex plot, a vivid sense of place and time, and resonant themes of friendship and courage. Practical Maddie and mischievous Julie are brought to life through their vibrant narrative voices and intriguing backstories . . . In this powerful work of historical fiction, Julie and Maddie need never fear ‘flying alone’; the reader will soar with them until the final page.”
—The Washington Post
 
“Young people will enjoy this Second World War spy story, no doubt, but its appeal is much wider. It's a beautiful thriller about friendship, courage and daring at a desperate time.”
—The StarPhoenix
 
“Moving back in time, rather than forward, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is an original, cleverly written Second World War story about spies, torture, women pilots, friendship and the horror of war.”
—The Independent

“A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“[Code Name Verity] is outstanding in all its features—its warm, ebullient characterization; its engagement with historical facts; its ingenious plot and dramatic suspense; and its intelligent, vivid writing.”
—The Horn Book (starred review)

“A fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“If you pick up this book, it will be some time before you put your dog-eared, tear-stained copy back down. Wein succeeds on three fronts: historical verisimilitude, gut-wrenching mystery, and a first-person voice of such confidence and flair that the protagonist might become a classic character. . . . Both crushingly sad and hugely inspirational, this plausible, unsentimental novel will thoroughly move even the most cynical of readers.”
—Booklist Online (American Library Association)

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ELIZABETH WEIN was born in New York, and grew up in England, Jamaica and Pennsylvania. She has her pilot's license, and it is her love of flying that partly inspired the idea for Code Name Verity.

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