Code Name Verity

A British agent code-named Verity has been taken by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France in 1943. Her captors give her a choice: hand over what she knows or be executed. She agrees to put everything in a written confession, and she fills it with her friendship with Maddie, the pilot who flew her across the Channel.

Verity's pages go back to how the two young women met. A radio operator and a ferry pilot, they each carve out a place in a war that had not planned for women in those roles. Then a crash landing in France pulls them apart.

Her account is wry, defiant and full of detours, and the Germans who read it treat it as payment for her life. Every page she writes buys her more time, and she knows it.

The second part switches to Maddie's point of view and shows events on the ground in France. It alters how the first half reads. This young adult historical novel blends espionage, women's flying in wartime and a close friendship. In 2013 it received an Edgar Award and a Printz Honor.

The question running underneath is what a prisoner is really doing while she appears to be giving everything away.