Violins of Autumn (review)

Betty, alias Adele, is an American Special Operations Executive spy in 1944 working with her friend and fellow spy Denise to train the growing resistance movement in Nazi-occupied France. Their missions grow increasingly dangerous as Betty proves herself again and again in the face of blatant sexism and hostility from the resistance fighters, who resent that the Allies sent women to their aid. At the same time, it becomes increasingly apparent that there's a double agent in their midst. Finally, as they attempt to sabotage a local Panzer factory in time to impact D-Day, Adele is captured by the Gestapo and tortured for information. McAuley offers a somewhat shallow treatment of the terrors of occupation, and the details of Betty's missions are glossed over, with the focus more on adventure and emotional reaction than historical detail and atmosphere. This is a more sensationalized and less innovative treatment of female spies in World War II than Wein's similarly themed Code Name Verity (BCCB 6/12). However, readers looking for a historical wartime caper tale that is heavy on quick-thinking adventure and paranoia (plus a ghost of a love triangle) but somewhat lighter on emotional devastation may find this accessible, fast-paced adventure and its capable, gutsy heroine to their liking.