Begin with The Enigma Game
Start with The Enigma Game, then continue through Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire, and The Pearl Thief.
Book Series · 3 Books
Code Name Verity Books
In order from The Enigma Game to Rose Under Fire.
Elizabeth Wein's four connected historical novels follow young women drawn into aviation, espionage, and resistance before and during World War II. Characters cross between the books, but each story has its own narrator and central conflict.
Reviewed by the Bookroo Editors Updated
Reading order
How to Read the Code Name Verity Books
Elizabeth Wein recommends reading The Enigma Game, Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire, and The Pearl Thief in that order. This is neither publication order nor strict story chronology, so the numbered Bookroo sequence follows the author's guidance.
The novels shift between narrators and years rather than telling one uninterrupted story. Shared characters and later revelations create the connections, and Wein's order lets those relationships build without requiring readers to sort the books by date.
Sources: Elizabeth Wein's official Code Name Verity series page, Hachette's official four-book collection.
For parents
What Parents Should Know
These YA novels deal directly with World War II violence. They include plane crashes and combat, imprisonment, Gestapo interrogation and torture, execution, deaths, grief, racism, antisemitism, and threats against civilians. Rose Under Fire is the hardest book in the set, with a sustained account of Ravensbrück concentration camp and Nazi medical experimentation.
The Pearl Thief takes place before the war but still includes a serious head injury, murder, and prejudice against Scottish Travellers. Friendship, courage, and the choices people make under pressure hold the series together, but the danger and loss are not softened for younger readers.
Where to start
Where Should a New Reader Start?
The author's suggested order gives the shared characters and later discoveries the clearest progression.
Where the story begins
First Book in the Series
Sale price
$1049
Book #1 · Chapter Book · Ages 14–17 · 2020
The Enigma Game
Three young adults must decode a secret to change the course of World War II.
448 pages· 101,748 words· Est. 9.5 hour read
$10.99Save 5%
Paperback
In reading order
Code Name Verity Series
3 books · Published 2012–2020
#1
Sale price
$1049
The Enigma Game
Chapter Book · Ages 14–17 · 2020
Three young adults must decode a secret to change the course of World War II.
#2
Sale price
$1500
Code Name Verity
Chapter Book · Ages 14–18 · 2012
A mission goes awry; captured, she must decide between truth and survival.
#3
Sale price
$1799
Rose Under Fire
Chapter Book · Ages 14–18 · 2013
Captured pilot faces survival in a Nazi camp, clinging to hope and friendship.
Good to know
Common Questions
How many books are in the Code Name Verity series?
There are 3 books in the Code Name Verity series. It began with Code Name Verity in 2012, and the newest book, The Enigma Game, was published in 2020.
What order should you read the Code Name Verity books in?
Start with The Enigma Game and follow the series order — the books above are numbered #1 through #3.
What ages are the Code Name Verity books best for?
The series is best for ages 14–18, based on the age ranges of the individual books.
The people
The Creative Behind the Books
The people who bring Code Name Verity to life.
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