Review: The Night War
The Night War
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Dial (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024
“We don’t choose how we feel, but we choose how we act. Choose courage.”
The Night War is a story about the Holocaust. It’s a story about bravery at a time when choices were not clear. But mostly, it’s a story of strong women and girls at a time when strength was needed.
The novel follows twelve-year-old Miriam Schrieber, a Jewish girl fighting to survive the horrors of WWII. At the start of the story, she lives with her family in occupied France. When the adults are rounded up, Miriam and her neighbor’s two-year-old daughter Nora, escape in the chaos. Nora’s mom implores her to be brave—and to meet them in Zurich.
Saved by a Catholic nun, the children are sent to Chenonceaux, at the border of occupied France and French-controlled Vichy. Nora goes to a young Catholic couple wanting to start a family, while Miri—pretending to be Christian and going by the name, Marie—is delivered to a convent school. Soon after arriving, she discovers that two of the nuns are secretly helping to smuggle Jews across the border to safety. When one is injured, they need her help. As Miri bravely helps others, she cannot know which of the girls is a friend and who would turn her in to the Nazis—and for that matter, neither does the reader. The stakes could not be higher. Readers will turn pages quickly, cheering for Miri, Nora, and the people who believe in freedom.
What I loved most: At every step in her story, we meet strong women, some alive, some not.
This book is about bravery, how to be strong, and how being strong is not always clear cut. It’s a time of many choiceless choices. During the story, the other girls reveal hurtful opinions and stereotypes about Jews—they felt very timely. We cheer for Miri and Nora. For hope.
Ultimately, The Night War is tragic—it is a story about the war and Holocaust. But it is also funny and heartwarming—a real coming of age story in a time where the stakes could not be higher. Flower imagery and scenes involving tending the land offer the reader moments of hope and promise and remind us about the importance of the bonds of family. Some readers may not appreciate the fantasy elements, but this reader loved how Bradley wove in the different stories of women in history, bonded by this place.
With antisemitism raging in the real world, this is a book that I hope will find its way to many classrooms and families. This story is well researched and fast paced. The language is accessible for middle grade readers interested in Holocaust stories—without witnessing the worst actions of the Nazis. Some might find the ending too cheery and unrealistic, but it also asks great questions of its middle grade readers. What does it feel like to be brave? To feel responsible for the safety of others? What is our responsibility to our friends and families, to helping those that are not like you? When we choose courage, what is at stake?
A thoughtful author’s note follows the story, which offers excellent Jewish representation in a well researched historical novel. Highly recommended.
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