5 stars. This is the best book I have read this year. 1943-A British spy parachutes from a plane over France and is captured by the Gestapo. The pilot crashes and the story twist is the spy & the pilot are women. Detailed, extremely well researched and compelling as we learn more about the spy and her best friend as they train and go on missions during the War. The story is told by the spy as she is imprisoned, tortured and forced to give up secrets through a written log of sorts. Elizabeth Wein keeps the story focused and moving right along. There are moments of humor, tenderness and terror. I gasped, cringed and outright cried several times. Wein does a fine job with the pacing and character development. Some of the French/German was hard to follow but if the speaker didn’t restate it in English the context was enough to figure it out. There are secrets galore and many unexpected twists & turns. I don’t want to give any of the plot away but I will say that while this is fiction, I believed every word of it actually happened! 5 stars and I already have Wein’s next book on reserve at the library.