Violins of Autumn

by Amy McAuley

Overview

Betty, an American teenager in living in Britain, is determined to contribute to the cause when the Germans begin bombing London in World War II. Instead of collecting scrap metal or running air raid drills like most girls her age, Betty lies about her age and trains to become a spy and member of the Special Operations Executive. Now known by her secret agent persona, Adele Blanchard, she soon finds herself parachuting over German-occupied France in the dark of night to join the secret Resistance movement.
Adele's missions in Paris and throughout the French countryside delivering top-secret messages, lead to several close calls with the Gestapo, but it's when she crosses paths with a young American pilot that Adele fully realizes the brutality of this war and the seriousness of her circumstances. Plus her changing feelings for this pilot are as uncertain as their future. Can Adele elude the Gestapo long enough to enjoy the future they are trying to protect?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802723048
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/19/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Amy McAuley is the author of Over and Over You. She likes to read, bake, cycle, camp, garden, and watch movies. She lives in Ontario with her family and two cats.
www.amymcauley.com
AMY McAULEY is the author of Over and Over You. She likes to read, bake, cycle, camp, garden, and watch movies. She lives in London, Ontario, with her family and two cats.
www.amymacauley.com

Editorial Reviews

In May 1944, 17-year-old Betty, a trained spy, is about to parachute into occupied France to help the Resistance. Under the new identity of Adele, a French girl, Betty works as a courier, delivering messages while trying to stay under the Gestapo’s radar. “hat could be more thrilling than scooting around the countryside on a bicycle, carrying top-secret messages... right under the noses of oblivious Germans?” From the prologue readers know that, at some point, Betty gets captured, which adds to the tension each time she begins a new assignment. McAuley (Over and Over You) has clearly done her research; historical facts are smoothly woven into the narrative, and the details of Betty’s assignments, such as spying on a factory or passing along codes, feel real. Less believable are characters like Robbie, a downed American pilot, or Pierre, a Frenchman fighting for his country, both of whom fall for Betty in a way that feels more manufactured than organic. Still, Betty is a daring and relatable heroine, and the challenges she faces will keep readers engaged. Ages 12–up. Agent: Steven Chudney, the Chudney Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 8 Up—American teen Betty Sweeney has lied about her age, been trained by the British SOE espionage agency, and parachuted into Nazi-occupied France to act as a courier for the Resistance. Sound unbelievable? It is. "Adele" (Betty's undercover name) and her British counterpart, "Denise," a radio operator and sharp shooter, make their way to a nearby farmhouse that doubles as a safe house for Resistance fighters. Almost immediately they encounter a downed American fighter pilot—also a teenager—and the three head toward Paris. Separated along the way, Adele outwits Nazi soldiers and is befriended by an elderly French doctor. Both the young farmer from the safe house and the American pilot become love interests. She and Denise vacillate between giddy schoolgirl feelings about boys, fashion, and champagne, and the cold-blooded determination required to shoot an enemy point blank. This juxtaposition makes for a confusing and head-shaking read. After completing a highly dangerous mission, Adele and Pierre share a passionate kiss and embrace before they have even reached safety. And within hours of a near-death weeks-long torture session, the rescued Adele is visited by Denise and, noticing her visitor, says, "Is that a new skirt?" Both characters are by turns naive and inexperienced and elite-level assassins, a stretch that many readers may not be able to swallow. The little bit of history provided does not give readers any real sense of the French Resistance experience, largely because the protagonists are more caricature than characters. For a moving read about France during World War II, suggest Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key (St. Martin's Pr., 2007) or Carla Jablonski's graphic novel Resistance: Book 1 (Roaring Brook, 2010).—Karen Elliott, Grafton High School, WI

School Library Journal

An American teenager becomes an Allied spy for the French Resistance during World War II in this briskly paced historical to novel. Seventeen-year-old Betty Sweeney, aka Adele Blanchard, is thrilled to abandon the staid safety of her European boarding school after she is approached by dashing SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents looking for unassuming young women to serve as spies behind enemy lines in France. "All I have to do is drop into a foreign country, aid and train members of the ever-growing Resistance movement, sabotage railways, travel the country on a bicycle while concealing top-secret information, blow things up, and try not to get killed." At the end of every cliffhanging chapter, intrepid Adele finds herself in a different do-or-die situation, whether it's unobtrusively trying to carry her bicycle through rough water under an enemy-occupied bridge or leading a German soldier to certain death in the labyrinthine Paris sewers. She is also caught in a love triangle between French farmer-turned-fighter Pierre and downed American pilot Robbie, one of whom is not destined to live to see the end of the war. The fast pace, well-realized setting and fascinating espionage details help make up for the stereotypical characterizations and stiff dialogue. Readers who prefer layered characters over racing plot should seek out the more subtle works of Judy Blundell or Kathryn Miller Haines. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews