Rose Under Fire

Gr 9 Up—Wein has crafted another stunner in this companion novel (2013) to Code Name Verity (2012, both Hyperion) Listeners reconnect with Maddie, who is mourning her late friend Julie, as she befriends a young American pilot named Rose Justice. Rose loves to fly and has entered the war effort on behalf of the British Air Force, transporting planes and people wherever they're needed, until she is taken captive while flying over France. The title character ends up in Ravensbruck, the infamous women's concentration camp run by the Nazis, and experiences the excruciating horrors and intense friendships such a place can create. As possibly the only American in Ravensbruck, Rose bonds with the "Rabbits," a group of women from a variety of backgrounds who were horribly experimented on by the Nazis, as well as French resistance workers and a Russian aviator. Not all of them make it out alive. Listeners learn earlier on that Rose does survive the camp, which makes hearing about the atrocities committed there a bit less harrowing, although many parts are still very difficult to listen to. Narrator Sasha Pick does a nice job depicting the American Rose, but she is less successful portraying characters with other accents. In a nice touch, the author narrates her own notes and acknowledgements. Pleasant music separates the discs.—Julie Paladino, East Chapel Hill High School, NC