Life After Life

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
This has to be one of the strangest books I have read. The premise of reincarnation is not a new but the story of Ursula Todd truly is a unique one. Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in London in 1910. This is the story of her many lives and deaths. I say deaths because how she dies is just as important and how she lived. She is truly a unique and strong character. Ursula dies and is reborn so many times you need a score card to keep up but it is not until she enters adulthood that we really get to know the character. Each time she dies and comes back she changes something in her life and we see how different choices have different outcomes. Some of the ways she dies are brutal but the most disturbing part of the book was her life during WW II. It was brutal and the horrors she endured left nothing to the imagination.

This book is beautifully written but can be confusing at times.  Do I recommend it? Yes but it is not for everyone.

                                      

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

If you like historical fiction then this book will blow you away from the first page to the last. The characters are strong and believable. From the moment you are first introduced to Verity and Maddie you want to know more about them and what happens to them.

Julia, Queenie, Eva, Katherine or Verity her name changes to suit her mission, is captured and tortured by the Nazis during WWII after her plane crashes in France. They want the wireless codes she has memorized for the British government as an operator. We are lead to believe that she sells her soul to save herself. As her confession unfolds we learn about Maddie, the pilot that flew her to France, their friendship and more details about her capture by the Nazis. We also learn Maddie’s story told in her voice. The final third of the book will blow you away.