Elizabeth Wein revisits the role of women in World War II in Rose Under Fire, a worthy companion to her Code Name Verity. Just as gripping, this novel follows an 18-year-old American and amateur poet named Rose Justice, who works as an ATA pilot based in Britain in the final year of the war.
Rose dreams of being a combat pilot but spends her days ferrying supplies and personnel. Thanks to her uncle, a Royal Engineer, she's selected for a secret mission to fly into newly liberated France. On her return flight, Rose is intercepted by two German planes and forced to land in occupied territory. Wein jumps forward to the aftermath of the war, to Rose's flashbacks of what happened after she landed. A series of linguistic and clerical errors results in her imprisonment in Ravensbrück, a women's concentration camp. Her survival depends upon both the cruelty of her captors and the humanity of her fellow prisoners.
In this gut-wrenching story of war, brutality, friendship and hope, Wein offers readers a small glimpse into one of the Holocaust's most infamous concentration camps. Moments of tenderness and camaraderie between prisoners surface, as well as times when tempers flare and hope seems lost. (An afterword informs readers which aspects of the story were true and which were altered). The author delicately balances two timelines and expertly weaves them together. For Rose, the war becomes both her undoing and her rebirth as she rediscovers what it is to be young, alive and free. --Kyla Paterno, trade book buyer and blogger, Garfield Book Company at PLU