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A review by brandypainter
The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
5.0
I love Louisa Adair.
I love Jane Warner.
I love Flight Lieutenant James Gordon Erskine Murray Beaufort-Stuart (even more now than before)
The Enigma Game takes place in 1940-1941 and follows one Blenheim bomber unit, and a young British Jamaican girl serving as a companion for an elderly former opera singer and German expatriate in Scotland. There are spies and bombs and, as always in a Wein novel, utter heartbreak. But she does it all so well, I will always keep coming back for more.
There are three point of view characters in this novel. Louisa, orphaned 15 year old with limited options due to her mixed parentage and place of birth, becomes the caretaker of an elderly, fragile woman who must live with her niece in a pub in Scotland near an RAF Aerodrome. Jamie, leader of 648 Squadron's B Flight, is stationed at the Aerodrome and is desperate to have more control over the missions he flies and his targets. Ellen, a Traveller who signed on as a driver for the ATS, ferries people who need a ride to and from the Aerodrome and lives at the same pub as Louisa. All three of their voices are extremely different. Louisa and Jamie pull the reader into their story and don't let go. They are both just so fascinating in their thoughts, motivations, and thinking. Ellen is not as strong. I saw her more as a bridge between Louisa and Jamie-not just as her role is in the action but her parts as well. I'm not sure if this was intentional. I do think she is probably the least developed of all Wein's characters and is a big reason [b:The Pearl Thief|31178738|The Pearl Thief|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1484527029l/31178738._SY75_.jpg|51817176] didn't work for me as well as Wein's other books. I found myself skimming her parts a lot to get to more Louisa and Jamie.
In Louisa's story is a wonderful intergenerational friendship between two outsiders who bond over music and a desire to break rules. They also find themselves at the center of intrigue involving the boys from the Aerodrome and a German pilot.
Jamie is so young here and already more than a tad jaded. This is Jamie before he meets Maddie in [b:Code Name Verity|11925514|Code Name Verity|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388161911l/11925514._SY75_.jpg|16885788], so the reader gets to see how he got to be where he was in that book, and this was the cause of the majority of my tears.
Jamie at the end of the book when he knows his military career is over due to his recently amputated fingers and toes: "Weren't there a couple of one armed ferry pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary? I knew my wee sister had a friend who flew for them. Maybe she could introduce me." (sobs forever)
But also I was floored by the parallels between Jamie's friendship with his best friend Silver and Maddie and Julie's friendship. It adds a whole extra depth of understanding to the bond Maddie and Jamie share that I'm so glad it was unpacked here. Like so many parallels. SO MANY.
Julie is in this book too. There is a tradition the boys at the Aerodrome have of leaving a sixpence stuck in the wood of the bar mantle. When they return from a flight still alive, they retrieve it and buy a drink. At one point Julie adds a sixpence too:
"And I'm never coming back for it. I want it to be up there forever with the rest of them."
(sobs harder forever)
I can't begin to know how well this book works for people who haven't read [b:Code Name Verity|11925514|Code Name Verity|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388161911l/11925514._SY75_.jpg|16885788] and [b:Rose Under Fire|17262236|Rose Under Fire|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368219053l/17262236._SX50_.jpg|23859036]. Jamie had my heart already, and I know how his story unfolds later on. It wasn't hard for me to grow attached. I'm not impartial enough to judge how a new reader would react to him. I have to say he did make me fall in love with the other boys in B Flight almost immediately(even the obnoxious ones I didn't love I grew concerned for). Jamie shows in the other two books that he has tremendous empathy and a need to protect people. This book shows those traits in abundance, and it's Jamie's heart for the people in his life that make the reader love them too.
Louisa is a new character, and I can say that she grabbed me straight from the beginning too. I was invested in her and her story full on by the end of her first section. In fact, I would really love to hear more of her story following the events of this book.
Jane Warner may be my favorite old lady in fiction now.
I love Jane Warner.
I love Flight Lieutenant James Gordon Erskine Murray Beaufort-Stuart (even more now than before)
The Enigma Game takes place in 1940-1941 and follows one Blenheim bomber unit, and a young British Jamaican girl serving as a companion for an elderly former opera singer and German expatriate in Scotland. There are spies and bombs and, as always in a Wein novel, utter heartbreak. But she does it all so well, I will always keep coming back for more.
There are three point of view characters in this novel. Louisa, orphaned 15 year old with limited options due to her mixed parentage and place of birth, becomes the caretaker of an elderly, fragile woman who must live with her niece in a pub in Scotland near an RAF Aerodrome. Jamie, leader of 648 Squadron's B Flight, is stationed at the Aerodrome and is desperate to have more control over the missions he flies and his targets. Ellen, a Traveller who signed on as a driver for the ATS, ferries people who need a ride to and from the Aerodrome and lives at the same pub as Louisa. All three of their voices are extremely different. Louisa and Jamie pull the reader into their story and don't let go. They are both just so fascinating in their thoughts, motivations, and thinking. Ellen is not as strong. I saw her more as a bridge between Louisa and Jamie-not just as her role is in the action but her parts as well. I'm not sure if this was intentional. I do think she is probably the least developed of all Wein's characters and is a big reason [b:The Pearl Thief|31178738|The Pearl Thief|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1484527029l/31178738._SY75_.jpg|51817176] didn't work for me as well as Wein's other books. I found myself skimming her parts a lot to get to more Louisa and Jamie.
In Louisa's story is a wonderful intergenerational friendship between two outsiders who bond over music and a desire to break rules. They also find themselves at the center of intrigue involving the boys from the Aerodrome and a German pilot.
Jamie is so young here and already more than a tad jaded. This is Jamie before he meets Maddie in [b:Code Name Verity|11925514|Code Name Verity|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388161911l/11925514._SY75_.jpg|16885788], so the reader gets to see how he got to be where he was in that book, and this was the cause of the majority of my tears.
Spoiler
Jamie at the end of the book when he knows his military career is over due to his recently amputated fingers and toes: "Weren't there a couple of one armed ferry pilots in the Air Transport Auxiliary? I knew my wee sister had a friend who flew for them. Maybe she could introduce me." (sobs forever)
But also I was floored by the parallels between Jamie's friendship with his best friend Silver and Maddie and Julie's friendship. It adds a whole extra depth of understanding to the bond Maddie and Jamie share that I'm so glad it was unpacked here. Like so many parallels. SO MANY.
Julie is in this book too. There is a tradition the boys at the Aerodrome have of leaving a sixpence stuck in the wood of the bar mantle. When they return from a flight still alive, they retrieve it and buy a drink. At one point Julie adds a sixpence too:
"And I'm never coming back for it. I want it to be up there forever with the rest of them."
(sobs harder forever)
I can't begin to know how well this book works for people who haven't read [b:Code Name Verity|11925514|Code Name Verity|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388161911l/11925514._SY75_.jpg|16885788] and [b:Rose Under Fire|17262236|Rose Under Fire|Elizabeth Wein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1368219053l/17262236._SX50_.jpg|23859036]. Jamie had my heart already, and I know how his story unfolds later on. It wasn't hard for me to grow attached. I'm not impartial enough to judge how a new reader would react to him. I have to say he did make me fall in love with the other boys in B Flight almost immediately(even the obnoxious ones I didn't love I grew concerned for). Jamie shows in the other two books that he has tremendous empathy and a need to protect people. This book shows those traits in abundance, and it's Jamie's heart for the people in his life that make the reader love them too.
Louisa is a new character, and I can say that she grabbed me straight from the beginning too. I was invested in her and her story full on by the end of her first section. In fact, I would really love to hear more of her story following the events of this book.
Jane Warner may be my favorite old lady in fiction now.