Velvet Undercover

Gr 7 Up—A taut and swiftly paced historical spy mystery, filled with suspense and surprising plot twists. Samantha Donaldson, 17, works as a Girl Guide for Great Britain's MI5 during World War I. Her talent catch the attention of the military, who recruit her to join La Dame Blanche, a secret female spy organization, who promise that they will help locate her missing diplomat father. Her mission: impersonate a distant cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm's daughter-in-law, infiltrate the palace in Berlin under the guise of a governess, and locate a missing British spy sent there to find information on a new German weapon. Once she arrives, she must use her intellect and perception to make contact with the spy known only as Velvet. Brown has created a convincing, credible main character who behaves as a teen might under such dramatic circumstances by giving equal weight to her intellect and self-doubt. Her wartime Berlin comes to life, putting readers into the heart of the action. A romantic subplot is woven in without distracting from the main story.