Violins of Autumn

“You do know them! You will give us their locations! You will tell us where the weapon drops take place!” 

I spit a mouthful of water on the floor in the direction of the shiny pair of army boots I see there. 

I draw a long breath. 

Down I go again.Garbled voices bounce back and forth above me. 

I strain against the chains, screaming on the inside. Fear eats what little oxygen I have left. 

I am about to drown.  

There is nothing I can do about it."

And that is how the prologue ends...

It took me two tries to start reading it, but when you get in to it, it's a really good book.

Betty... Well actually Adele is a spy for the allied, she is specifically a carrier, bikes around with info, money and other...

In the first chapter she jumps out of a helicopter... and that goes more or less wrong... and just a side comment but are you people Bat Shit Crazy??

"I realize just then that this mission won’t be “like dropping into an easy chair,” as I was told. Somehow I fell for that line at the time. 

Now it sounds like pure nonsense. All I have to do is drop into foreign country, aid and train members of the ever-growing Resistance movement, sabotage railways, travel the country on a bicycle while concealing top-secret information, blow things up, and try not to get killed. 

Sure, easy as pie. 

Things already seem to be going wrong, and I haven’t even reached the ground yet."

She lands in a forest instead of a field as she thought she should, and the first french man she meets think girls ain't worth the same

“They sent us more girls? Girls. Again. My God.” 

Pierre’s pointed French words burst my bubble like tiny arrows. “How do they expect us to get our country back when all they do is send us these flimsy little girls?”

Well, hello to you, Mr. Misogynistic pig.

They stay in Pierre's farm house a little out of Paris. They stay there for a day or so, then they take there bikes... but first they meet Pilot, his actual name is Robbie but to begin with they just call him Pilot.
They make a stop at Pierre's moms brothers place... And it gets raided by "The German bastards", but Rat tells them so they can get their cute self's out in time.
They ride most the way to Paris when the meet  couple of Germans, Denise (another spy) and Robbie drive on like a couple, Adele drives slowly after them... but the Germans have a flat so she has to give her bike away... she gets a lift from a nice Dr. François Devereux... BTW his wife is a BITCH.

The safe house she is supposed to get to is... compromised.

She goes to François house, he gets her to Estelle a lady that takes people in... what ever that means

“Why did you introduce me to that German officer?” I ask, rubbing my achy arms. 

“Now, in his mind, you are my great-niece, Adele. He will not waste time inquiring about you, as he might if we had said nothing. You will fade from his view and he will move on to someone else. If you behave as though you are keeping secrets, the Germans will suspect you are keeping secrets.” 

I can see why Dr. Devereux likes this woman."

Well she goes there and becomes good friends with the granddaughter Marie, one day she spots Robbie outside a shop... and she goes to the rescue when a couple of asshole soldiers use him as a punching bag...

Well, she gets back on track with her spying... They have headquarters in the catacombs... Pretty cool... literally, think meeting in an underground mass grave being able to see the skulls and bones... uhm, no thanks.

“... Are you with me, Adele?”

“I am, sir. But I no longer have a bicycle. I gave it to the Germans.” 

“That’s a lavish gift. Before the war I could have bought myself a car for less than the cost of a bicycle now. For what reason did you give yours up, girl?” 

“Well, I wanted to live, sir.” 

“That’s reason enough, I suppose"

She starts to get in contact with an other spy "Anna", in her first rendezvous... kind of spy messenger gives to another messenger, does not go that well... she kind of forgets the secret word... but she gets it done, after that she has her routine with it... until one day Anna doesn't show up. And there is this guy that is following her... turns out he wanted to ask her out

"While a kind man was working up the nerve to ask me on a date, I was working up the nerve to kill him with my bare hands."

Adele is spying on a German fabric, there is a guard that spots her... which end with him promising her a tour around the factory three days later, but she has to draw a picture of his dog Zugar... that by the way seams kind of cute in the "If I'm told I would kill you" kind of way

 Robbie is hiding at a safe house for "downed airmen" (crashed pilots). After he gets his papers they start walking around Paris... where they are followed by Shepherd, a spy that was caught around 0.00000001 second after he landed.

The girls get asked out by a couple of German soldiers... and let me say I have heard about some really bad dates... this was even worse:

1. Adele gets kind of drunk... after 3 glasses of champagne
2. The guys insult the Brits... Denise get all kinds of pissed
3. And Robbie comes to say goodbye...and that he loves her...

“I’ll miss you, Adele. I’m falling in love with you.” 

“Robbie, you don’t love me. In two weeks’ time you’ll be back with your squadron, where you belong. I’ll be just a fading memory. Someone you knew during your adventure in France.” 

“No, Adele.” He takes my hand again and holds it firmly in his. “My feelings for you are real. I won’t forget you. Not when I get back to my squadron. Not ever. And when all this is over, I’ll do whatever it takes to find you again.” 

“Robbie, you have to go now. Please don’t think about me anymore.” 

“But Adele—” 

“I mean it. Concentrate on getting home to your family,” I said, falling to pieces inside. “Stay safe.”  

That is the saddest scene in the book, cause they are so fucking cute together. And of course she breaks both of their hearts...

The next day she goes to Denise's place they have their girl problems as any girl have with her best friend, but it ends rather quickly... cause, oh right they are spy's in war.

And Adele tells Denise about François wife.

"One of my contacts, the doctor I told you about who drove me to Paris, he’s married to a Nazi sympathizer. She was at the Commodore last night. Wearing a German officer.” 

“She’ll get what’s coming to her.” 

“Do you think so?” 

“Haven’t you heard of karma?”

On her way back she stops at a citron pressé  where Anna shows up and gives her a  cork with a message:

"Safe houses compromised. Being followed. Cover irreparably blown. Suspected leak within circuit. Watch your back. Trust no one."

And the girls promise that they can at least always trust each other... and of course you promise that even if you are a double agent... am I the only one thinking that... but hell alone in another country, that if anyone finds out from where you are will probably kill you, it must be a little comforting with at least someone to trust.

She comes to get her tour... but she can't really take notes so she simply has to remember

"May I first say hello to Zucker?” I ask.
I mimic the mispronunciation of boarding school students reciting German for the first time to say, “Hello, Zucker. You are a very good and intelligent dog.”
The praise is part of my act, but I really mean it.
“Did you learn that phrase so you could speak to Zucker?” Gerhard asks.
“I did,” I say, laughing. “Do I need more practice?”
With a polite smile he says, “Yes."

She goes back to the Resistance with her knowledge about the fabric... and of course they plan an attack...

“The factory is producing gun carriers and turrets for German Panzer tanks,” I say. 

Marcus rushes ahead of me to the table. “Panzers! Pierre, did you hear that?” 

“Yes, I heard her. How do you know this?” 

“I toured the factory this morning.”  

 “You toured the factory?”

“Yes.” 

“And how did you manage that?” 

“They mistook me for a student.” 

“They mistook you for a child and then showed you around? I don’t believe it."

Sorry, it was just kind of hilarious, and I simply had to put it in.


But well, she gets to train the newbies and there is this extreme misogynistic asshole... even bigger than Pierre I will just say that itself is an accomplishment... and she shoots him, or to be more precise the tree he is leaning against... and he runs to tell "Daddy" Pierre.
But Pierre simply says the guy has to follow orders... muhahaha... that sounded more evil in my head.

 Later she meets with Bishop and a couple of newbie spy's... seriously one of them talks fucking English in German land... Idiot... and the other has a terrible accent... and Bishop want's her to take one of them in and she goes all commando... so many kinds of awesome

"“Adele, I can’t have Benjamin and Agnes residing in the same house,” Cammerts says. “Agnes will spend a portion of her time with you.”My head snaps up. The agent who spoke English in a public place is going to stay with me? I wouldn’t dream of putting Estelle and her family’s lives at risk. Not for anyone or anything, but especially not for this careless woman I just met. She is not my problem and not my responsibility. I have to draw the line.“No,” I tell him.“Pardon me, Adele?”“I won’t do it. Everyone makes mistakes, but I don’t think Agnes will learn from hers. I can’t take a chance on someone who’s not cut out for this.”"

And the next thing we know Gestapo is after them... and catches them... but of course they escape.
They go back to Pierre's place get the message

“The long sobs of the violins of autumn.”

Meaning the great D-Day is coming... The Invasion Day
and they blow the telephone lines up... BOOM... And Adele losses her hearing for a time, not long but still it must suck and Pierre kisses her... just for your information

Shepherd turns up with this new guy Frank, he is apparently a downed airman... but he isn't me almost kills Denise for her radio... well that ends wit him getting dead... Oh and Pierre shot Shepherd after Adele told Bishop she thought he was double.

“Hi, Pierre.” On the table in front of him is a bottle of red wine. “It’s a little early for wine, isn’t it?”
He brings the bottle to his merlot-tinged lips. When I enter the room he offers it to me.
“You might want to drink this,” he says.
“Why?” Something is very wrong. Pierre refuses to look me in the face. “What happened?”
He takes another long swig. “I killed Shepherd.”

“I’m upset because I’ve become hardened to the things that should sicken me.” He stares out the window. “My life was never perfect, but it was peaceful. It was good. Our family was happy. I’ve seen more misery in the past four years than I did in the eighteen years before them. I don’t know how I got from that time to this one, in which I’m willing to kill a man. What if when this part of my life is over, I’m unable to go back to the person I was? What if I’m damaged forever?”

 Later we find out Denise has abilities as a psychic since she an "sense" the second part of the D-Day transmission will come... and it did.
They blow up the factory... but the Germans shoot Pierre and capture Adele...
She gets tortured first at Gestapo head quarters then at a prison...

 Stars:
4.98
It is really good, just the torture scenes are really gruesome and nightmare worthy... I have a bad habit reading at shit o'clock at night...
And there kind of happens a little to much at the same time a little hard to follow at times


What can you use this book for in real life:
Do what you can for others even if it means risking your self.

Love comes at the weirdest times and places enjoy it.