Ada is 10 years old and has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by her twisted foot to allow her to go outside. So when her little brother, Jamie, is shipped out of London to escape WWII, Ada doesn’t waste a minute-
She sneaks out to join him.
So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, read a book, and watch for German spies, she begins to trust Susan – and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together during wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?
Set during one of the most explosive periods in world history, this wonderful story is equal parts adventure and a moving tale of family, identity, and the fire of self-worth that can, when fed, burn brightly in all of us.
QUOTES
“I wanted to talk to her when she hadn’t just been hit on the head. I wanted to know if she’d still like me when she wasn’t woozy.”
― Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, The War That Saved My Life
“I wanted Mam to be like Susan. I didn’t really trust Susan not to be like Mam.”
― Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, The War That Saved My Life
“I wasn’t relaxed. I was wearing the green dress. I’d put it on when I came in from seeing Butter because I knew it would please Susan, and it did. She brushed my hair and let it hang loose, tying my new green ribbon around my head. “That’s an Alice ribbon,” she said. “The girl in your book, Alice, she wears her hair like that.” I felt like an imposter. It was worse than when I tried to talk like Maggie. Here I was, looking like Maggie. Looking like a shiny bright girl with hair ribbons. Looking like a girl with a family that loved her.”
― Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, The War That Saved My Life