The War I Finally Won

The first book blew me away, and this one does, too, but for completely different reasons. It is a delight to hear Ada's acerbic, forthright questions again, and to continue to see the world through her eyes. The war becomes more immediate, and we start to see the larger picture of WWII. At the same time this book is all about negotiating relationships, about truth, about healing, and about how bald-faced bravery turns into trust. It's not an easy story, and it's not an easy road. I think I value it all the more knowing how many children in this world are experiencing trauma or are trying to find their way back from it. This book is a little bit of a road map for that -- it doesn't pretend the rough parts don't exist, it doesn't stick show more with happily ever after. Great sequel to an astounding first book. show less

I loved this. The war continues. Ada, Jamie and Susan wind up living with Lady Thorton, the mother of Ada’s friend Maggie, and Ruth, a Jewish teenager being tutored by Susan, whose mother is in an internment camp. Lady Thorton won’t let Maggie leave boarding school or Ruth ride their horses, and Ada is frustrated that Lady Thorton doesn’t understand what her friends need. Meanwhile, Ada is resistant to anyone mistaking Susan for, or pretending that Susan is, her mother.

I liked the way the pieces of this story fitted together thematically. It’s a story about found-family and mothers. It’s about healing, and the things people need, and Ada learning about what she can do for the people she loves.

Moving. Made me tear up. show more

“Right,” I said. “So why not dragons?” I’d been thinking it through. “The kind that can fly. If we took them out of the zoos and we trained them, maybe they could attack German planes without even needing pilots on board.” It would be much safer for Jonathan.
A grin spread slowly across Susan’s face. “Ada,” she said, “you do understand that dragons are mythical creatures?”
As If I knew what she meant by mythical. I stared at her.
“Imaginary,” said Susan. “Made-up. Pretend. The stuff of fairy tales.” She coughed, then started to laugh. “My dear -- oh, I’m sorry -- it’s wonderful -- Why don’t we train dragons?” She laughed harder. “That’d serve Hitler right. A couple of ranks of dragons, and the ghost of St. George --” show less

Book on CD performed by Jayne Entwistle

In a follow-up to her earlier novel, The War That Saved My Life, Bradley returns to finish the story of Ada, a girl born with a club foot and “saved” by being evacuated from her London slum to a relatively prosperous home in rural England.

This book is written for the middle-school market, but deals with some serious subjects with honesty. Ada has had a traumatic childhood, with a mother who could not care for her and took out her shortcomings with anger at her “crippled” and “defective” child. But Ada found a way to persevere. What really changed her life, though was World War II, or more specifically the Blitz and the resulting evacuation of children from London to the safer regions show more in rural England. All this was revealed in the first book.

This second episode begins with Ada’s long-awaited surgery to correct her club foot and the long and painful recovery and rehabilitation. Her guardian, Susan, is kind, compassionate and steadfast in showing her love for Ada and Jamie (Ada’s younger brother). We learn more about Lord and Lady Thornton and their children, Jonathan and Maggie. And, the horses, especially Butter, play a great role in Ada’s rehabilitation.

The novel also deals with the prejudices against Germans, including the German Jews who fled their homeland as refuges from Hitler’s policies. Ruth, a teenaged girl, is brought into the household and causes quite the stir. She’s unhappy, and so are Ada and Lady Thornton. Only Susan shows any compassion at first.

The main focus, however, is on Ada’s journey. The war within herself to reconcile her childhood and to accept that she can be loved and love in return. The journey is painful and difficult but worth the effort.

It’s a marvelous story that deals with some serious subjects: prejudice, trauma, anger, forgiveness, resilience and courage.

Jane Entwistle does a marvelous job of voicing the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to deal with and manages to give them all sufficiently different voices so that there is no confusion as to who is speaking, even when two (or more) characters of the same gender and age are speaking. show less

Still an excellent book, still a series I wish I hadn’t started. It continues to be an excellent depiction of trauma, child abuse, and the recovery therefrom, but WOW is it hard to read. It’s also a very moving, intense series about motherhood in all its forms, and how mothers and children interact. This book has fewer Standard Children’s Fiction Plot Points, which I appreciated, but still does not quite stick the landing at the end.

All in all, well worth a read, as long as you can handle child abuse, trauma, death, and sadness. (There are some happy moments, too.)

Often I'm disappointed by the second book in a series, but not this one. "The War I Finally Won" was just as good, if not slightly better, than "The War that Saved My Life". It started after Ada finally had her foot operated on and continued to follow the lives of her and her brother as they gradually found love and contentment with their foster mother, Susan. An excellent sequel.

This is a perfect follow-up to The War That Saved My Life, and do be sure to read that one first.
Ada, the narrator, was severely abused for most of her childhood by her cruel and unloving mother, known as Mam. In The War That Saved My Life, Ada and her brother Jamie escape from Mam smuggling themselves out of London with children being evacuated in anticipation of German bombing at the start of World War II.
The War I Finally Won picks up where the first book left off. Ada gets surgery for her club foot, and can soon walk, albeit with a limp, and move about like other children. However, recovery from 10 years of abuse and neglect are much harder to recover from. Ada is different from most YA narrator protagonists, in that she is not show more wholly likeable. Her's is not a Harry Potteresque tale with a "see this poor abused child who we can all see is a perfectly lovely person who we would love to have for our best friend." No, Ada is far more realistic. A child who has been abused to the degree Ada was for so many years is not going to find it easy to trust or like anyone, and will herself be difficult to like. Kimberly Bradley does a magnificent job portraying Ada as realistic, and yet sympathetic to the reader, in spite of her difficulty loving and trusting anyone.
Ada makes great strides through the book, and so does the iron faced and iron willed Lady Thornton, who truly is a secondary main character in this volume. show less

Appreciated that this book realistically showed the aftermath of trauma and abuse and showed the protagonist using different coping mechanisms to deal with her issues. Mixed feelings on how the book deals with disability. The protagonists disability is still present in her life even after her surgery and she herself obviously has complex feelings about that but I wish she didn't have so much negative self talk about it.