1940. Facing a seemingly endless war, fifteen-year-old Louisa Adair wants to fight back, make a difference, do something — anything to escape the Blitz and the ghosts of her parents, who were killed by enemy action. But when she accepts a position caring for an elderly German woman in the small village of Windyedge, Scotland, it hardly seems like a meaningful contribution. Still, the war feels closer than ever in Windyedge, where Ellen McEwen, a volunteer driver with the Royal Air Force, and Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, a flight leader for the 648 Squadron, are facing a barrage of unbreakable code and enemy attacks they can't anticipate.
Their paths converge when a German pilot lands in Windyedge under mysterious circumstances and plants a key that leads Louisa to an unparalleled discovery: an Enigma machine that translates German code. Louisa, Ellen, and Jamie must work together to unravel a puzzle that could turn the tide of the war — but doing so will put them directly in the cross-hairs of the enemy. Set between the events of The Pearl Thief and Code Name Verity and featuring cameos of beloved characters from these other titles as well as a remarkable new voice, this brilliant, breathlessly plotted novel by award-winning author Elizabeth Wein is a powerful must-read.
"Wein’s latest immersive dive into a slice of WWII-era history splits the narration among three figures — Flt. Lt. Jamie Beaufort-Stuart; Ellen McEwen, a Traveller volunteering as a military driver; and Louisa Adair, the biracial daughter of a Jamaican father and a British mother, both recently killed by German explosives.... Wein again seamlessly weaves extensive research into a thriller populated by fully dimensional characters. Late in the novel, Jamie’s sister, Julie, makes a cameo as a newly minted intelligence officer, a poignant reminder to readers of Code Name Verity that the war will get much worse before it ends." — Publishers Weekly
Recommended Age | 14 and up |
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Author | Elizabeth Wein |
ISBN | 1368012582 |
Publication Date | Nov 3, 2020 |
Publisher | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Language | English |