The thrilling story of one young ATA pilot's unforgettable journey through World War Two. This is Rose Under Fire. Rose Justice is a young American ATA pilot, delivering planes and taxiing pilots for the RAF in the UK during the summer of 1944. A budding poet who feels most alive while flying, she discovers that not all battles are fought in the air. An unforgettable journey from innocence to experience from the author of the best-selling, multi-award-nominated Code Name Verity. From the exhilaration of being the youngest pilot in the British air transport auxiliary, to the aftermath of surviving the notorious Ravensbruck women's concentration camp, Rose's story is one of courage in the face of adversity. Elizabeth Wein is fast growing into one of the most important names in historical books for young adults. In this, her second book for Egmont Press, she explores a World War 2 story of great significance and harrowing consequences. Something made more haunting by the backdrop of the real-life events of Nazi Germany. Praise for Code Name Verity: "It does more than stick with me. It haunts me.
I just can't recommend it enough" Maggie Stiefvater, bestselling author of Shiver "I was bereft when I finished it" Jill Mansell "It's about friendship and bravery, loyalty and love, and will most definitely leave you sobbing" The Bookseller "This is a remarkable book" Daily Mail
Rose Justice is a ATA pilot, ferrying people and planes so that men can fight. One day, on a routine flight in Europe she tries to interfere with a doodlebug and ends up being escorted to an airport by some German pilots. From there she ends up in Ravensbruck where she witnesses some terrible things.
The book is laid out as diaries, at first she's full of enthusiasm and spirit and then when she's recalling what happened to her, it's heartbreaking and also there's her work on getting herself back to herself, that broke my heart. She's a smart girl who becomes a woman under terrible circumstances that would break most people and then she finds herself wanting different things from where she was earlier in the war. She's a character who develops and while she will never regain her former self is still a whole person.
Interesting and heartbreaking, the list of Ravensbruck rabbits in the title page would break your heart when you think about it and the author sucked me in and made me care. It's not Code Name Verity. It stands well alone without Code Name Verity, with some similar themes but if you're looking for a revisit of the same story you will be disappointed.
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26 August, 2014:
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26 August, 2014:
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