TEST
Teenagers fight in our wars. It’s easy to forget that since we call anyone over eighteen an adult but the fact is that we do send eighteen- and nineteen-year-old kids – teenagers- to fight in battles. Elizabeth Wein is doing a wonderful job of bringing the WWII young adult/teen battle front to life via her recent series of books.
It all ended because of a V- 1 Flying Bomb, Hitler’s pilotless killers. It began rather simply. Rose Justice graduated high school early so she could become an Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilot. Based in London, she and her compatriots fly new, repaired and damaged military aircraft from wherever they are to wherever they need to go. Many times there are serious problems with the craft but in spite of the dangers Rose loves the work. She has always adored flying but this allows her to fly with a purpose. It frees male pilots for combat positions and makes a real difference in the numbers of pilots the Allies can send to fight. She takes pride in what she is doing for the war effort.
Which doesn’t mean she wouldn’t love to do a bit more. When her Uncle Roger (a high placed muckety-muck in the British military) is able to get Rose as his pilot for a trip to the recently freed Paris she is over the moon. Rose is amazed at how beautiful Paris is and applauds the Nazi general who refused Hitler’s orders to destroy the city when he was forced to retreat. Because portions of France are still a battle ground and considered a combat zone, Rose is unable to travel beyond Paris with her uncle. Instead she is assigned a Spitfire to fly home. It is on that return journey that she runs into the flying bomb headed directly for Paris. Determined to protect the city which has survived so much, Rose utilizes a risky maneuver and some trick flying to force the bomb down into an empty field. Her exhilaration at her success is short lived. She had gone drastically off course to deal with the bomb and now finds herself over enemy territory. When two Nazi fighters force her to land she knows it is likely she will spend the rest of the war in a prison camp.
The uniform Rose is wearing provides a modicum of protection (it keeps her from being seen as a spy) but since women aren’t in combat there are no military prisons ready for a female military officer. Rose finds herself instead in the notorious Ravensbruck. Once she arrives at this horrible women’s concentration camp she is assigned to a barrack with many of the “rabbits”, women who have been horribly disfigured by medical experiments taking place at the camp. Her new friend Roza, with her butchered legs, is a living testament to the atrocities committed by the Nazi war machine. Roza knows that she and the other rabbits will never be allowed to leave the camp alive; her very existence proves what the Nazis are currently vehemently trying to deny – that they have tortured the prisoners in their care. She befriends Rose in the hope that Rose will one day tell the story of the brave “rabbits”.
Rose also meets many other women, young and old, who had dared to stand against The Third Reich. Together they experience starvation, beatings and other cruelties beyond imagination. They witness the horrors of the gas chambers and the terror of the death trains. It is only by banding together and taking matters into their own hands that they stand a chance to survive. To remember the names of those gone and tell the tales of a place of unspeakable evil. But when the chance comes to escape will they have the courage and strength to take it?
This is not an easy read but it is a great one. The descriptions of Ravensbruck and what happened there are quite difficult to get through. It makes it even harder to know that the author “cleaned” things up for us. The gory details aren’t provided but even the glossed over version of the horrors is enough to give you nightmares. And normally I would avoid a book that went to such dark places but I am so glad I didn’t in this case. It was so rewarding to meet the characters, to be in touch even through the pages of a book with such courage and dignity and generosity. If the Nazi prison guards showed the dark side of humanity the prisoners themselves countered it with what is best in us.
Among those who displayed the “best in us” is Rose. I loved her fighting spirit, her cunning, her caring and her audacity. I love how she stayed true to what was right and never doubted for a minute the correct course. And most of all I loved that the core of who she was wasn’t changed by what she was put through.
I also loved that the book ended on a positive note. We went through the ringer but we did come out with some small successes on the other end. That is an excellent echo of what happened with the war and I thought it was masterfully handled.
Fans of the authors first novel Code Name Verity will be glad to hear that we catch up with Maddie and good things are happening in her life. It was great to see that after the events of the last book which had left her a bit battered.
While this novel doesn’t quite measure up to The Book Thief I would definitely recommend it to fans of that book. Or to anyone looking for a great read that includes the honest, dark portions of an important time in human history.
Grade: A-
Book Type: Young Adult
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 29/10/13
Publication Date: 2013/09
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.