{{short description|2012 novel by Elizabeth Wein}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book | name = Code Name Verity | image = Code Name Verity - Electric Monkey cover.jpg | caption = Cover of the 2012 [[Electric Monkey]] UK edition. | author = [[Elizabeth E. Wein]] | title_orig = | translator = | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | subject = | genre = [[Young adult fiction]] <br> [[Historical fiction]] <br> [[Thriller (genre)|Thriller]] | publisher = [[Hachette Books#Hyperion Books|Hyperion Books]] | pub_date = May 15, 2012 | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]]) | pages = 451 | isbn = 978-1423152194 | congress = PZ7.W4358 Cp 2012 | oclc = 748286341 | preceded_by = The Pearl Thief | followed_by = [[Rose Under Fire]] }}
'''''Code Name Verity''''' is a [[young adult fiction|young adult]] [[historical fiction]] novel by [[Elizabeth Wein]] published in 2012. It focuses on the friendship between two young British women in [[World War II]]: a spy captured by Nazis in German-occupied France and the pilot who took her there. It was named a [[Michael L. Printz Award|Michael L. Printz Honor Book]] in 2013, and shortlisted for the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]].
A loose sequel, ''[[Rose Under Fire]]'', was published in 2013. A prequel novel, ''The Pearl Thief'', was published in May 2017; it is a mystery involving ''Code Name Verity''{{'}}s protagonist Julie a year before the war starts.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wein pens 'Code Name Verity' prequel {{!}} The Bookseller|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/wein-pens-code-name-verity-prequel-398436|accessdate=1 December 2016|work=The Bookseller|date=September 21, 2016}}</ref>
==Plot== In 1943 Nazi-occupied France, a British [[Westland Lysander|Lysander]] spy plane crashes in the fictional town of Ormaie. On board are two best friends, a pilot (Maddie, code name: Kittyhawk) and a spy (Julie, code name: Verity). The latter is soon captured by Nazi authorities, detained in a former hotel, and forced to write a confession detailing the British war effort, which she decides to write in the form of a novel.
Through her confession, she tells the story of her friendship with Maddie, the pilot, and how she came to enter France in the first place. In the second part of the plot, the story is told from Maddie's point of view, and reveals the events that transpired after the plane crash that left both women in France, and her plan to find Verity and bring her back home.
In the end, Maddie kills Julie to prevent her from being tortured or sent to [[Natzweiler-Struthof]] as a specimen for medical experiments. After that, Maddie receives Julie's confession from Engel, a chemist at the hotel who has had a crisis of conscience, and she and the French Resistance use Engel’s information to blow up the hotel, which the Nazis also use as their center of operations. After that, Maddie escapes to England.
== Critical reception == ''Code Name Verity'' received critical acclaim. ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised it as "a fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel, the kind you have to read twice",<ref>{{cite web|last=Ingall|first=Marjorie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/books/review/code-name-verity-by-elizabeth-wein.html |title=The Pilot and the Spy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012-05-11 |accessdate=2012-07-03}}</ref> and ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' called it a "carefully researched, precisely written tour de force".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-wein/code-name-verity/ | title=CODE NAME VERITY | publisher=Kirkus Reviews | date=15 February 2012 | accessdate=March 1, 2013}}</ref> ''Code Name Verity'' is one of five young adult novels published in 2012 to receive starred reviews in all six trade journals.<ref>{{cite web|last=Winn|first=Whitney|title=Starred YA Book Reviews 2012|url=http://www.youthservicescorner.com/starred-ya-book-reviews/starred-ya-book-reviews-2012/|work=Youth Services Corner|accessdate=10 October 2012|archive-date=19 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519110635/http://www.youthservicescorner.com/starred-ya-book-reviews/starred-ya-book-reviews-2012/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The novel won the 2013 [[Michael L. Printz Award|Michael L. Printz Honor Book]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/yalsa/printz-award-2013 |title=Printz Award 2013 |publisher=[[American Library Association]]|accessdate=2015-02-10|date=2014-01-27 }}</ref> the [[List of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel winners|Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel]], and the [[Golden Kite Award|Golden Kite Honor]] in 2013. It was also shortlisted for the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2013awards/carnegie_shortlist.php|title=The CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist for 2013|publisher=CILIP|accessdate=2015-02-10|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714174528/http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2013awards/carnegie_shortlist.php|archivedate=2014-07-14}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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[[Category:2012 American novels]] [[Category:2012 English-language novels]] [[Category:American young adult novels]] [[Category:American historical novels]] [[Category:American thriller novels]] [[Category:Novels set during World War II]] [[Category:Novels set in 1943]] [[Category:Novels set in France]] [[Category:Epistolary novels]] [[Category:Electric Monkey books]] [[Category:Hyperion Books books]] [[Category:Edgar Award–winning works]]