The War I Finally Won Paperback – September 4, 2018

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The best—read it. Share it. Tell others. Love this and the OG book as well. Really lovely story.

So my thoughts on the second book: equally rich, equally compelling. The War I Finally Won takes up Ada’s story from the time when she came to live permanently with Susan. Ada, Susan and Jamie have changed residences (for reasons that will become apparent when you read Saved My Life) and are now living with Lady Thornton (and Maggie when she is home from boarding school.) Susan has paid for foot surgery for Ada and the family is dealing with the war that is raging on their doorstep. Food rations, potato picking, fire watches and the like are all part of their daily lives as they try to survive in a world that is being torn apart by World War II.Three major developments take place in this book: 1) A young German refugee named Ruth comes to live with Ada, Susan, Jamie and Lady Thornton, 2) A tragedy befalls the family as part of the war and 3) Susan becomes very ill and requires hospitalization. Throughout the book, the reader sees these three events folded together to bring the book to its eventual close…how they deal with Ruth, face their tragedy and learn about the depth of their love for one another in the face of Susan’s illness are the major themes that frame the second book overall.Readers get to spend more time with Lady Thornton and her family members in this sequel and will get to know Ruth (and see the impact of the war on Germans who did not follow Hitler.) We also learn about suffering and strength and what it can do to people’s characters. Finally, we get to see Ada come to terms with her history and understand that she is lovable and that her mother’s assertions about her defectiveness were nothing more than the ravings of a women who was inherently ‘broken’ herself.Jamie continues to provide comic relief in this second book and Ada continues to establish herself as a fighter…she faces adversity and her own fear with courage and aplomb. Perhaps most heartwarming within this second book is Susan’s story: we finally learn more about her past and come to understand her depression, her strength and her willingness and ability to love Ada and Jamie through their struggles. The combination of Ada’s and Susan’s characters, is, to my mind, one of the best pairings I have encountered in a book in a long time. They will tear at your heartstrings, have you in tears and leave you with warm laughter.I can’t recommend these two books enough…they read like older books of the same style (think Anne of Green Gables or Little Women) but are somewhat more modern and forward thinking. There’s lots to learn about World War II and the state of affairs of that time in Europe but neither book reads as ‘educational’ (a curse to the 11 year old, I assure you!) There’s a lot to uncover in each book and I’m sure you could read each one repeatedly and find new and different topics to consider and discuss. Brubaker Bradley does an amazing job drawing this ‘family’ together and making the reader truly care about what happens as they build their story together! Read them in order, for sure…but definitely take the opportunity to read them. You won’t regret it!

Hello, as you must notice from the headline, I am very excited about this book because I had read its prequel not long ago, this is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read…. Coming from me, well let’s just say that its very hard to make it on that list. It’s about a young girl, Ada, and she has a club foot, if (face it when) you read this novel you will take on many adventures with her including, German nazi spies, tragic deaths, and bright hope. This book is literally a huge roller coaster of emotions and you should ride it, even if your too short. I hoped my review helped when deciding on your next read. Enjoy!!!!

The 14 year old granddaughter of a lifelong friend, suggested she read the first book "The War that Saved my Life". My friend thought so highly of it she sent me a copy. I read it very quickly, unusual for me, but it was very well-written, the story was compelling, thoughtful, touching, compassionate and engaging. The children in the story must leave London during WWII. The experiences of war are compelling enough, but to follow the lives of these and other children, in the story, was heart wrenching and heart warming. Having completed the book I had to know what happened next. Thus, "The War I finally Won". I was not disappointed. The themes introduced in both stories are of accepting differences, loss of those we love, what love means in its many forms, acceptance, transition, growth, kindness and compassion. You may as well buy both at the same time. Share with your young children, or encourage your youth-child to read. In the past year I have read four books about WWII, "All the Light We Cannot See" again about very special older youth & war, a stunningly beautiful book by Anthony Doerr, these two, and a true story "Child of the Warsaw Ghetto" by David Adler. Having recently read that some children have never heard of the Holocaust, repercussions the migration of children in England during WWII, or the internment camps for Japanese Americans, I was deeply saddened. I will be donating three of these books to our church library and write a short review to encourage families and youth to read them. If you have not read these books, I hope you will.