4 out of 4 stars
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Code Name Lily, Legend of the Belgian Resistance by Julien Ayotte is a historical fiction novel based on World War II. The book describes the courage and the hardships faced by members of the Resistance that helped British and American soldiers to safety. Each chapter of the book is devoted to an individual who served on the Comet Line, their role in saving Allied soldiers, and their techniques for evading the Gestapo. The main character of the book was Micheline “Michou” Dumon. She was known as Lily and was one of the leaders of the Comet Line. Lily was a nurse that provided care to downed fighter pilots and their crew. She was small in stature and looked younger than she was, so she was often able to go unnoticed by the German Gestapo.
This book was well-researched and provided great information on this aspect of World War II. Many of the characters of the book were real-life heroes whose actions saved lives. The Belgian Resistance is not what people think of when they hear a story is about WWII. Many people only know of Normandy Beach and D-Day and that is what WWII is to them.
The first few chapters of the book are a fictional story about a man who learns his father is a WWII hero. The father was a tail gunner in a B-17 bomber that was shot down. He was shot in the arm but was able to save himself as well as some of the other injured gunners on the plane. Then the book jumps back in time to 1915 and tells the story of a member of the Belgian Resistance. The next character is introduced in Chapter 5 and the story timeline is 1940. Then in Chapter 6, the book takes the reader back to the 1920’s. Although the information is interesting and appears to be factual, the book jumps back and forth so the reader must be attentive to the dates as the flow of the story is disrupted. Since the book jumps to different time periods, sometimes the story is repeated. I liked the historical aspects of the story so even though I did not like the repetition and the story jumping around, I still enjoyed the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction. I would also recommend it to those interested in the WWII time period. Teens to adults would be equally comfortable reading this book since the language and sexual content is acceptable for all ages. I did not find any punctuation, spelling, or grammatical errors in the book. Although the book skips around and is repetitious, I give it 4 out of 4 stars. The book is well written and provided an intriguing story of the Comet Line during WWII.
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Code Name Lily
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