The War that Saved My Life

Reader’s Review

This well-loved and moving book has a lot to praise – with one major caveat. The beautiful writing and strong characters will have readers mesmerized throughout the story. The novel begins with a few pages of disturbing descriptions of a mother abusing the main character because of her club foot. Thankfully the descriptions end quickly (note that they may be too much for younger and more sensitive readers however), and the kids run away to the village to escape war in London. There they meet a woman who takes them in and grows to love them, but the kids struggle to return her love. The caveat is that the woman lives on her own and is grieving the death of her close friend Becky, who in the book is only mentioned as a friend, but some readers have interpreted her as a love interest.

To look out for

• Islamic values: Susan mentions that she used to live with her friend Becky, and is still grieving her death. She also mentions that she is ostracized by some community members, including her father. Some readers have interpreted this as meaning that two women were involved in a relationship. No descriptions of their relationship are ever described. The other main concern is that Ava and Jamie’s mother is cruel, unjust and abusive. She has no love for her kids, hits them, locks them. up, calls them names and eventually gives them up readily. It is difficult to read about the abuse and the impact that it leaves on the kids, although the author does a very good job of describing the conflicting emotions the siblings have about their mother.
• Language: The mother uses numerous insults on Ava including idiot. Others think she is dumb and uneducable. In the climax of the story, Ava’s mother calls Susan a ‘slut’,
• Violence: Abuse by mother is described, including hitting and locking Ava in a cabinet. Ava’s foot often bleeds. There are some fist fights. There are descriptions of bombs falling over the city, and one disturbing scene where Ava treats injured soldiers – she sees them unable to control bowel movements, sees different physical injuries, and sees one soldier die. Towards the end a bomb goes off near the kids, they are injured slightly, a bomb also destroys their home.